This story was originally produced by the New Hampshire Business Review. NHPR is republishing it in partnership with the Granite State News Collaborative.
A tightening vice of inquiries is pressuring the New Hampshire Department of Business and Economic Affairs (BEA) to explain what it knew — and whether it aided — a Chinese water bottling company’s purchase of commercial property in Nashua.
Two inquiries —one directed from Gov. Kelly Ayotte and one from three members of the Executive Council — seek answers from BEA Commissioner Taylor Caswell about the purchase of a 337,391-square-foot, single-story building on 23 acres at 80 Northwest Blvd. in Nashua by a subsidiary of Nongfu Spring, China’s largest water and beverage bottler.
A spokesman for the governor in a statement to NHBR said, “The Communist Party of China has no home in New Hampshire.”
A third inquiry — from U.S. Rep. Maggie Goodlander (D-2nd CD) — seeks a review of the transaction by the U.S. Treasury Department under a law that empowers retroactive reversal of a transaction if a national security threat is uncovered.
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“People want to have an assurance that this is being thoroughly vetted,” Goodlander said to NHBR. “I just want to make sure that all the proper reviews are taking place.”
At a Nashua Board of Aldermen’s meeting on Aug. 12, Mayor Jim Donchess addressed an overflowing crowd about the purchase of the property in January by NF North America, a subsidiary of Nongfu Spring, that is adjacent to the watershed used by Nashua’s water supplier, the Pennichuck Corp.
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A Chinese bottling company purchased an industrial property in Nashua in January. Now, speculation about the deal on social media has city and state leaders getting involved.
“I don’t think people generally understand that this company came to Nashua as part of a state economic development initiative,” said Donchess. “Now let me repeat that — they were brought here by the state of New Hampshire Division of Economic Development. The project was led by a guy named Mike Bergeron, senior business development director. That’s how they got there, and he visited the site with them a number of times. The company was this Chinese company looking for a location in the United States. It came down to two different competitive locations. One was in Maryland, the other here, and in the end, they chose New Hampshire, Nashua.”
NHBR has asked the BEA to explain the discrepancy between what Donchess said and what it said to NHBR when it was first asked to report details of the Nongfu Spring purchase in June.
That statement from Caswell’s office said this: “BEA frequently receives inquiries from businesses exploring opportunities to locate, expand, or secure financing in New Hampshire. These inquiries often come through third-party intermediaries, such as consultants or site selectors — seeking general information about available commercial properties, regulatory requirements, tax structures, and other business considerations. This was the case with the recent project in Nashua. While BEA has since become aware of the project’s Chinese ownership, no substantive assistance has been requested or provided by the agency.”
Asked for a comment, Caswell’s office said in a statement: “We welcome engagement with the Attorney General and others to review the facts and circumstances around this project. As this is an ongoing process, we are unable to comment further at this time.”
The governor is seeking to retrace the steps toward this acquisition during the latter stages of her predecessor, Chris Sununu. She has directed the state’s attorney general, John Formella (a Sununu holdover appointment) to review the events leading up to the purchase of the Nashua building for $67 million, more than four times its assessed value of $15.6 million.
A statement to NHBR from Ayotte spokesman John Corbett said: “The Governor has directed the Attorney General to examine the facts and circumstances of Nongfu Spring’s purchase of property in Nashua, including state and local involvement in that process. The Communist Party of China has no home in New Hampshire, and we should scrutinize all purchases made by adversaries of our country.”
Three Republican members of the Executive Council, who have said they won’t support Caswell’s reappointment as BEA head, sent a letter dated Aug. 14 asking Caswell to answer an extensive list of questions about the Nongfu Spring purchase.
Among the questions from Joseph Kenney, John Stephen and David Wheeler are the following:
- Did the BEA actively recruit this company to relocate or establish operations in New Hampshire?
- Who within the state government, including the BEA, was aware of the company’s interest in the Nashua site, and at what point in the process?
- Did the state conduct a foreign ownership risk assessment prior to the transaction?
- Was the deal referred to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) or any other federal agency for a national security review?
- Are tax incentives, grants, or other state resources being provided to the company?
U.S. Rep. Goodlander wrote to the U.S. Treasury Department Aug. 5 requesting a Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) review of the purchase, saying it “raises a number of concerns.” The CFIUS, with the Treasury secretary as chair, reviews certain foreign investments in the U.S. to determine if they pose a national security risk.
Among her concerns —like the concerns raised in conservative media and social posts — have to do with the proximity of a purchase by a Chinese national of property that has some proximity to certain military installations in New Hampshire (such as New Boston Space Force Station and the Nashua-based FAA Air Route Traffic Control Center). As well, she cited the infrastructure concerns of proximity to the Nashua water supply.
“The United States Congress has vested CFIUS with authority to review transactions that may impact the national security of the United States, including real estate transactions like this one,” said Goodlander in her letter.
The CFIUS authority to negate a transaction is not unprecedented. It was used during the Biden Administration when it prohibited in May 2024 the establishment of a Chinese-owned cryptocurrency mining facility located within one mile of Francis E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
Goodlander said she has no preconception about whether the Nongfu Spring purchase represents any kind of threat. Noting that the company hasn’t been transparent about its intentions, she said she is pursuing the CFIUS inquiry “with a real sense that it needs to be thoroughly vetted through the right channels.”
American investors Vanguard and BlackStone have a stake in Nongfu Spring, owned by founder Zhong Shanshan, who holds an 84% ownership stake, giving him significant control over the company and who is the richest individual in China.
Mayor Donchess, in his remarks at the aldermen’s meeting, used several minutes to refute unsubstantiated rumors about Nongfu Spring’s presence in Nashua and its access to the water system. The water for Nashua’s homes and businesses comes from the Pennichuck Corp., of which the city of Nashua is the sole shareholder.
“The first thing that started to get people stirred up was the city of Nashua has sold the water company,” Donchess said. “Totally untrue, never considered, never proposed, never discussed — complete fabrication.”
The second false statement that Donchess addressed was that the water supply had been sold. The Nongfu Spring building is adjacent to the watershed used by Pennichuck.
“The next falsehood — the city sold the water supply. Again, totally untrue, a made-up fact to get you upset,” Donchess said. “Politicians are trying to divide people … it’s kind of a page out of the Washington playbook, trying to get you upset with a bunch of false statements, to get you riled up … so completely false. We never sold the water supply, again, never proposed, never discussed, never even an idea in anyone’s head, except for the politicians who made this up.”
Donchess made the point that the state Public Utilities Commission (PUC) regulates any and all utilities, including water use, in the same way it regulates Eversource’s business practices as an electric utility.
How Pennichuck operates its business is indeed regulated by the PUC, but the dealings with the company about how much water it intends to use each day is handled directly by Pennichuck Corp.
Pennicheck CEO John Boisvert said the company has not made any formal notification yet as to how many gallons per day it wants from the water system.
According to Boisvert, Pennichuck has excess capacity. If currently provides up to 12 million gallons a day and has a current capacity to provide up to $30 million gallons a day. If the company wants up to 2 million gallons per day for production and internal water use (bathrooms, etc.), as was indicated in due diligence meetings, Boisvert said the system can easily accommodate it.
Boisvert, who also addressed the crowd at the aldermen’s meeting, explained that Pennichuck is obligated, like other gas and electric utilities, to provide water to 80 Northwest Boulevard.
“Our treatment plant has capacity to produce and treat more than 30 million gallons per day. It’s here to support the community in all of the activities of the community,” he said.
Certain improvements to the water supply infrastructure would have to be made to accommodate the gallon use Nongfu Spring is expected to request. Boisvert noted upgrades to a pumping station and upsizing some water mains.
“The owner, in this case, of 80 Northwest Boulevard, has to pay 100% of those improvements based on the public utilities rules that we follow,” he said.
Boisvert said the last time he heard from company representatives was in December 2024.
Boisvert was asked if the utility could simply refuse to provide water to the business. “Because of that reason alone, we would be in violation of public utilities law. We can’t do that,” he said.
Once the Nashua operation is ready to proceed, there is a state level review with the state Department of Environmental Services and the state Department of Health and Human Services.
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