China's US investments face most scrutiny

Chinese companies faced the most scrutiny over their US acquisitions last year, eclipsing British firms for the first time, according to a report.

Chinese corporations filed 23 notices with United States regulators last year, up from 10 in 2011 and nearly quadruple the number in 2010, according to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS, report on Thursday.

This compared with 17 notices from companies from Britain last year, the report said.

CFIUS, an interagency group chaired by the Secretary of the Treasury, reviews transactions that would bring US businesses under foreign ownership for national security concerns. Most of its reviews stay secret unless companies choose to disclose them, but once a year the group must file a report to Congress about general trends.

Speaking about the latest report, a senior Treasury official said the higher number of Chinese deals under review was consistent with growing Chinese investment in the US.

There was US$11.5 billion worth of deals by Chinese companies in the US last year, which was a significantly higher figure than in any year other than 2007, according to Thomson Reuters data.