Could ARA privatisation deal be first casualty of China's new foreign acquisition rules?

SINGAPORE (Nov 28): The privatisation of ARA Asset Management by Warburg Pincus, AVIC Trust, Straits Trading and ARA’s founder John Lim, could see a major setback as China’s State Council is due to announce new measures over the review of overseas deals.

According to a report by The Wall Street Journal on Saturday, transactions that are said to be targeted by the new measures include “extra-large” foreign acquisitions worth more than US$10 billion ($14.2 billion), property investments by state-owned firms above US$1 billion, and investments of more than US$1 billion by any Chinese company in an overseas entity that is outside of the company’s core business.

AVIC Trust is a unit of state-owned enterprise Aviation Industry Corporation of China, and is set to gain a 20.48% stake in ARA.

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