U.S. companies vulnerable to foreign buyers

By Jessica Hall

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - With a record volume of international takeovers of U.S. companies, it almost appears America itself is up for sale.

The weak dollar and slumping stock prices of U.S. companies has created a window of opportunity for international buyers to snatch up American icons such as beer brewer Anheuser-Busch Cos Inc (BUD.N) and the landmark Chrysler Building in New York.

"The dollar has depreciated so much that America is on the sale rack," said Sung Won Sohn, a professor of economics at California State University.

"America has such an appetite for foreign goods -- Chinese imports and oil -- that U.S. dollars have gone overseas. Now, many Americans aren't happy that foreign companies are buying pieces of America with the money we gave them in the first place," Sohn said.

In the second quarter, acquisitions of U.S. companies by international buyers totaled $124.3 billion, marking the highest total for any second quarter on record and jumping 23 percent over the year-earlier quarter, according to research firm Dealogic.

International takeovers represented 22 percent of all U.S. merger activity in the first half of the year, up from 17 percent in the first half of 2007, according to research firm Dealogic.

InBev NV's INTB.BR deal to acquire Anheuser-Busch for $52 billion gave Belgium the distinction of being the most active foreign buyer of U.S. assets in the first half of this year, followed by Spain and Canada, Dealogic said.

The Anheuser-Busch deal ranked as the second-biggest cross-border acquisition of a U.S. company in history, following Vodafone Group Plc's (VOD.L) $60.3 billion acquisition of AirTouch Communications in 1999, according to Thomson Reuters.