A Deal for an Australian Dairy Wrapped in Layers of Chinese Loans
In an interview, the spokesman for Mr. Morrison, the Australian treasurer, said
that Mr. Morrison was “comfortable with the advice provided by the review board on the dairy acquisition.”
The Australian review board said the documents presented by the Chinese buyer were confidential
Mr. Lu paid for the purchase with three loans, one from a lender in Australia
and two from Chinese lenders, including the biggest state-run bank, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, according to the filings of his publicly traded company.
Mr. Lu, whose main business in China is manufacturing window shades, created an Australian company, Moon Lake Investments, to buy the dairy.
“The Australian assumption has been that Chinese business operates like Australian ones,”
said Peter Jennings, executive director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.
Why doesn’t the government?”
After striking an agreement to buy the dairy in late 2015, Mr. Lu established Kaixin Investment, a Ningbo-based company, to acquire the assets.
