Haier prefers organic growth for expansion

Beijing: Haier Group, China's largest home appliance maker, said on Monday that it preferred organic growth to continue its rapid overseas expansion, but would consider an acquisition if the right opportunity arose.

Haier had looked into the possibility of buying General Electric's appliance unit when the US giant put the unit up for sale in May, Li Pan, the general manager of the group's overseas promotion division, told Reuters.

But Haier's global strategy is to expand overseas under its own brand and not through acquisitions, he said, in an interview at the Diaoyutai Hotel, the group's hospitality centre for the just concluded Olympic Games.

"Our aim is to forge the Haier brand globally and that definitely will not be changed," said Li, whose company was a domestic sponsor of the Games.

Strategy shift

Currently, almost all of the group's sales are under the Haier brand, a strategy that downplays overseas acquisitions, but does not rule them out, he said.

"If an M&A opportunity would help us to consolidate resources and reduce costs to meet our customers' needs, we'll definitely consider it."

Analysts agreed, however, that Haier would have needed state-backed funding to consider a move on GE's appliance arm, a unit that is larger than Haier's two listed companies combined sales.