Back to the complete issue
Thursday, 17 August 2017

China clamps down on outbound M&As — with the exception of Belt and Road

China clamps down on outbound M&A — with the exception of Belt and Road: M&A appetite from Chinese companies in nations that are part of China’s Belt and Road initiative appear to have been spared restrictions on outbound capital by the Chinese government. Chinese acquisitions in the 68 countries, which includes Egypt, totaled USD 33 bn as of Monday, surpassing the USD 31 bn tally for all of 2016, according to Thomson Reuters data. On the flipside, outbound M&A from China has dropped 42% y-o-y as Monday. While Beijing has been curbing outbound and leveraged acquisition to prop up the Yuan, but as the USD 124 bn Belt and Road initiative is a key foreign trade policy of President Xi Jinping, the trend will likely continue. “The acquisitions are also policy-driven. There are funds allocated by Chinese banks and state funds for Belt and Road deals,” said Hilary Lau, a corporate and commercial lawyer and partner at the law firm Herbert Smith Freehills.

Enterprise is a daily publication of Enterprise Ventures LLC, an Egyptian limited liability company (commercial register 83594), and a subsidiary of Inktank Communications. Summaries are intended for guidance only and are provided on an as-is basis; kindly refer to the source article in its original language prior to undertaking any action. Neither Enterprise Ventures nor its staff assume any responsibility or liability for the accuracy of the information contained in this publication, whether in the form of summaries or analysis. © 2022 Enterprise Ventures LLC.

Enterprise is available without charge thanks to the generous support of HSBC Egypt (tax ID: 204-901-715), the leading corporate and retail lender in Egypt; EFG Hermes (tax ID: 200-178-385), the leading financial services corporation in frontier emerging markets; SODIC (tax ID: 212-168-002), a leading Egyptian real estate developer; SomaBay (tax ID: 204-903-300), our Red Sea holiday partner; Infinity (tax ID: 474-939-359), the ultimate way to power cities, industries, and homes directly from nature right here in Egypt; CIRA (tax ID: 200-069-608), the leading providers of K-12 and higher level education in Egypt; Orascom Construction (tax ID: 229-988-806), the leading construction and engineering company building infrastructure in Egypt and abroad; Moharram & Partners (tax ID: 616-112-459), the leading public policy and government affairs partner; Palm Hills Developments (tax ID: 432-737-014), a leading developer of commercial and residential properties; Mashreq (tax ID: 204-898-862), the MENA region’s leading homegrown personal and digital bank; Industrial Development Group (IDG) (tax ID:266-965-253), the leading builder of industrial parks in Egypt; Hassan Allam Properties (tax ID:  553-096-567), one of Egypt’s most prominent and leading builders; and Saleh, Barsoum & Abdel Aziz (tax ID: 220-002-827), the leading audit, tax and accounting firm in Egypt.