US hedge fund JANA Partners won the bid for 30 percent of equities of Shenyang Machine Tool Group Ltd, China's largest lathe-maker, a source close to the deal said yesterday.

"We signed an official agreement with JANA Shenyang Holdings Corp," a spokeswoman from Shenyang Machine said.

JANA Shenyang is a corporation established by JANA Partners to buy the stake. The owner of Shenyang Machine, Shenyang's State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, refused to comment on the deal.

Shenyang Machine offered to auction 49 percent of the stake to both domestic and foreign investors on the Shanghai United Assets and Equity Exchange late last year. Foreign bidders were limited to a 30 percent stake.

In May, JANA was competing with China's Sany Corp, a leader in heavy machineries.

"I am surprised Sany was involved," Oriental Gaosheng Chief Analyst Ji Shupeng said. "Although Sany is in the same engineering industry as Shenyang Machine, Sany's businesses are more concentrated on construction machinery. I guess Sany was attracted by Shenyang's prospects."

The Xinhua News Agency quoted Rose-Marie Fox, director of JANA Shenyang Holding Corp, as saying JANA had won the bid and that she believed JANA's international experience would help the Chinese company in the international market.

"We'll cooperate with Shenyang and provide capital and managerial experiences to realize its strategic goal," Fox was quoted to have said.

According to Ji of Oriental Gaosheng, JANA won't hold on to Shenyang Machine and that it just wants to cash the stocks when Shenyang is listed.