As news stories go, a visit to Nasdaq Wednesday by some executives from Fushi International Inc. couldn’t hope to compete with the $5 billion that China Investment Corp. ltd. pumped into capital-impaired Morgan Stanley. Yet a small U.S. acquisition by Nasdaq-listed Fushi says more about the kinds of deals ordinary Chinese companies will be looking for as they pick up the pace in their U.S. acquisition activity.

Founded in 2001 and posting 100%-plus annual growth rates, Dalian, China-based Fushi makes bimetallic wires used in telecom and other applications. As Chris Wang, Fushi’s CFO, explained in an interview Wednesday, Fushi needed more manufacturing capacity plus access to global markets and a brand that’s known outside China.

Enter Copperweld Bimetallics LLC of Fayetteville, Tenn. Founded in 1915 but left a corporate orphan by a series of restructurings, Copperweld was privately owned, burdened by debt in a business that requires ample working capital and needed access to the booming market in China. It also has significant excess capacity.

Copperweld approached Fushi, and after a meeting in Beijing things moved fast. In September Fushi, advised by Houlihan Lokey, bought Copperweld for $22.5 million, including assumed debt. Copperweld’s CEO, Chris Finley, is now chief operating officer of the combined company; Fushi founder Li Fu is chairman and CEO.

The company will have sales of about $150 million in 2007, and a Piper Jaffray & Co. report projects sales of $332 million in 2009.

Finley, a wire industry veteran, will divide his time between China, the U.S. and a facility in England. He’ll also be getting a full-time translator. Asked about the biggest surprise so far on the integration front, he said: “How quickly Fushi committed to Copperweld’s capital plan.”

Given the social and political reverberations of such deals, that’s an important point. Some Copperweld equipment is being moved to China, but Finley says it’s machinery purchased on the eve of the telecom bust in 2000 and never put to use. In a statement issued on the eve of a China trade visit by Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen — who was scheduled to meet with Finley and Fu in Beijing — Finley spoke of “the development of innovative new products, processes and technologies right here in Tennessee.” — Kenneth Klee

Background article from Business tn

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