Carlyle Group, a Washington-based buyout firm with US$39 billion under management, won't be outbid for Xugong Group Construction Machinery Co, China's biggest maker of construction machinery, the target company said yesterday.

Other offers won't be considered, listed unit Xugong Science & Technology Co told Shenzhen's stock exchange. Carlyle last year agreed to buy an 85 percent stake for US$375 million.

Asia is the world's fastest-growing leveraged-buyout market, with private equity firms raising a record US$17.6 billion to invest in the region last year. Booming growth in China and India and Japan's recovery are attracting buyout firms including Carlyle, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co and Blackstone Group LP.

Xugong, based in China's Jiangsu Province, "won't hold any talks or negotiations with other investors," the company's listed unit said in yesterday's statement. The deal is pending approval from China's commerce ministry and state asset regulator, the statement said.

Xiang Wenbo, the chief executive of Sany Corp, a maker of heavy machinery in Hunan province, sparked speculation of a takeover battle, when he wrote in a personal weblog that Sany was willing to pay 30 per cent more than Carlyle. Still, Sany's listed unit, Sany Heavy Industry Co, confirmed in a stock exchange statement on June 15 that it hadn't made a bid.

Carlyle's takeover is "shocking, because Xugong is the symbol of China's machinery industry," Sany's Xiang said on his weblog. "What Sany is doing is for itself and for the country, because manufacturing is a national strategic industry."

Xugong Group Construction is the largest construction machinery manufacturer and distributor in China, Carlyle said in a statement on its website.

(China Daily June 22, 2006)