The sale of AIG’s aviation leasing business to a Chinese group is close to collapse, signalling the implosion of yet another Chinese bid to control such assets – the third in just a few years. When Chinese groups show up at auctions these days, the response is more scepticism than celebration.

In this case, the Chinese buying group fell apart. In other cases, involving potential purchasers ranging from obscure groups to well-known banks, either approvals or financing or the prevailing fear of overpaying were factors.

China Development Bank submitted the highest bid for the aviation leasing assets of Royal Bank of Scotland (by a margin of $240m), despite the bank believing it had no chance of getting approval for the deal. A Chinese group bidding for Hawker Beechcraft could not come up with the financing and lobbied vehemently (albeit unsuccessfully) for the return of its $50m deposit. Bank of China submitted a lowball bid not once but twice for an Indonesian bank that Temasek was selling (which went ultimately to Maybank).