China puts brakes on overseas spending spreeBEIJING -- Beijing is tightening screening on Chinese companies' overseas investments, according to the government and reports, after a record-setting shopping spree raised concerns of capital flight and reckless spending. New restrictions will ban most deals over US$10 billion and curb investments of more than US$1 billion in sectors unrelated to a company's core business, Bloomberg News reported, citing people with knowledge of the matter. State-owned companies will be barred from spending more than US$1 billion on overseas property and the rules will last until September 2017, it added. Chinese firms have been on a multi-billion-dollar spending spree this year, culminating in state-owned ChemChina's US$43 billion bid for Swiss seed giant Syngenta. But increasing capital outflows from China have raised concerns with the yuan currency weakening against the dollar, hitting a nearly eight-year low this month.

Source: The China Post November 29, 2016 18:02 UTC