Wanxiang America President Pin Ni speaks at the opening of Wanxiang America’s solar panel plant in Rockford, Illinois, in August 2010. Attendees included then-Illinois governor Pat Quinn (seated far left) and Rockford Mayor Larry Morrissey (seated far right). PHOTOS provided to China Daily

One in every two vehicles made in the US is equipped with components made at its US plants. The Elgin, Illinois-based company reinvests all its profits in the US. It has operations in 26 US states and employs more than 13,500 people. And when it comes to investing, Wanxiang America's president turns to M&Ms, reports Chunying Cai in Washington.

It's a presidential election year in the US again. The memory of the last one in 2012 is still fresh in Pin Ni's mind.

That was when Wanxiang America, the US subsidiary of Wanxiang Group, the largest auto parts manufacturer in China, proposed acquiring A123 Systems, a bankrupt lithium-ion battery manufacturer in Michigan, which received a grant from the US Energy Department and had some US military contracts.

It was a tough fight for Ni, Wanxiang America's president. Politicians accused Wanxiang, or more generally China, of stealing US technology and taxpayers' money.

In the end, Wanxiang closed the deal, spinning off the military business to another buyer, paying $256.6 million and pledging to keep the management team and employees.

“A123 is just one of the many companies that we bought. And, to be honest, we have deals that were done more beautifully," said Ni during an interview with China Daily. “It became controversial and talked about mainly because the deal occurred in an election year."

In a little more than a year after the deal closed in January 2013, A123 started to generate positive cash flow. Its advanced batteries, mainly used by electric cars, is a good fit for Wanxiang Group's goal to become a leader in the global clean energy and electric vehicle field.

Now production cannot keep up with the demand, according to Ni. About 70 percent of its batteries are shipped to China.

M&Ms

The reasons for A123's success can be summarized by using M&Ms, Ni said, referring to the colorful chocolate candy.

The first M refers to market. “China now is the world's largest market. The demand for a high-quality battery is huge. That is the simplest and most important factor in reviving the company," said Ni, now in his early 50s but radiating a youthful energy that hides his age.

The second M refers to management. Ni said he now has a management team that can quickly fix and turn around stressed businesses. Management is what Wanxiang came to the US to learn some 20 years ago.

“Working in the US will help us change our management skills, which will indeed improve our abilities as a global company," said Ni, who launched Wanxiang America from a home-turned-sales office with a personal money of $20,000 in 1994, mainly selling auto parts made by its parent company to US customers.

Wanxiang Group has become a global company with $25 billion in revenue, owning more than 40 auto-manufacturing plants worldwide. One in every two vehicles made in the US is equipped with components made in Wanxiang's US plants.

Less than 10 years ago, M&M, however, meant different things to Ni: material and money.

When the US economy hit a downturn in 2008, many US companies, especially auto parts manufacturers, were near bankruptcy. They turned to Wanxiang America for help.

Being well-connected with China and having a global network, Wanxiang America managed to find cheaper materials to cut production costs and injected investment money to revive some of those plants.

According to Ni, 3,500 jobs were saved from 2007-2009 when those companies were rescued. Wanxiang was hailed by local governments as “truly the sweet chocolate", as Ni put it, which inspired him to come up with the metaphor of M&M.

For Ni, the two sets of M&Ms exemplify the evolving differences between the US and China and that is where opportunities exist, not only for Wanxiang, but for other Chinese companies.

“We have been very lucky. The US and China are such great countries, and we have huge differences. Differences will give us huge room to compete with each other, and we can still survive," said Ni. “We have to bring in the value that our local competitors cannot. Simply because we are from China, we have resources that our competitors often do not have."

But since the US and Chinese economies are constantly evolving, Ni has to keep up with the change and discover new values.

While some Chinese investments have made big headlines in recent years, such as Shuanghui acquiring Smithfield Foods, Lenovo buying Motorola and Wanda snapping up AMC and Legendary Entertainment, Ni was quietly acquiring a string of companies until the A123 deal put him at the center of media attention.

Along the way, Wanxiang America added increasingly diverse yet strategically important industries that align well with its parent company's global vision, including clean energy, financial services and real estate. The Elgin, Illinois-based company now owns over 100 assets and operations in 26 US states, employing more than 13,500 people and generating revenue of $3.5 billion in 2015.

Its clean energy sector includes solar panel production facilities, battery plants and electronic vehicle makers, including Karma Automobile, formerly Fisker Automobile, acquired by Wanxiang in 2014.

Wanxiang's US real estate unit includes office towers, shopping centers, warehouses and resort homes, making it the second-largest Chinese real estate investor by number of properties held in the US, according to Real Capital Analytics Inc.

Ni also strives to turn competition into collaboration when it comes to maximizing the differences between the US and China. “The differences between the two countries will also give us even more opportunities that we can collaborate with each other and we can all win in the end," Ni said.