A state employee broke no laws but was actively involved with facilitating the purchase of a Nashua property by a Chinese beverage and bottling company, according to an internal review published by Attorney General John Formella on Monday.
The unnamed business development manager who works for the state Department of Business and Economic Affairs didn’t actively recruit that company to come to New Hampshire but did assist in the process, Formella said. The employee continued to work on aiding the purchase even after learning of the buyer’s Chinese ownership last year and didn’t notify supervisors until months later.
The $67 million purchase in February, made by a subsidiary of Chinese-owned company Nongfu Spring, raised red flags for state officials earlier this year. Nongfu Spring founder Zhong Shanshan has a net worth of more than $77 billion and is “understood to have close connections with China’s Communist Party,” according to the report.
The sale amount was much larger than the assessed value, and the location at 80 Northwest Blvd. in Nashua is in close proximity to a space force station, an air traffic control center, a water treatment facility and other sensitive government facilities — all of which raised concerns from local, state and federal leaders.
In the state’s investigation, Formella recommended that the state keep a closer watch on entities affiliated with foreign governments seeking to operate in New Hampshire.
“Across both state and local government, certain employees require greater awareness of emerging avenues for malign influence by foreign actors,” Formella wrote in the report. “Regular training on spotting red flags, particularly as they may emerge from the private sector, is warranted.”
Gov. Kelly Ayotte, who is from Nashua, signed two executive orders to further that effort on Monday. One bans state agencies from using certain technologies made by companies from foreign adversaries such as China. The other directs state employees to make sure entities from those countries are not involved in any state-owned real estate transactions.
“China, Russia, Iran and other countries like them should not be doing business in the state of New Hampshire — it’s as simple as that,” Ayotte said in a statement. “We must do everything we can to protect our state from foreign adversaries, and it starts with making sure they cannot access sensitive data, do business or purchase property here.”
A new state law restricting Chinese entities, and those from any other “country of concern,” from buying land in New Hampshire went into effect on July 1. The law isn’t retroactive and doesn’t apply to the Nongfu Spring case.
U.S. Rep. Maggie Goodlander, who’s from Nashua, called on U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who chairs a federal committee that reviews foreign investments in the U.S., to investigate the purchase and potential national security concerns.
Correction: This article has been updated to reflect that Scott Bessent is chairperson of the federal committee that review foreign investments in the U.S.