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China Slows US Companies Merger Reviews

By  |  April 4, 2023

According to a recent report by the Wall Street Journal, China’s antitrust regulator is delaying approval for mergers involving American companies amidst an escalating technology rivalry with Washington.

The State Administration for Market Regulation in China has requested that companies seeking merger approvals provide access to products they sell in other countries, in response to the US’s heightened export controls directed towards China.

Read more: China To Conduct More Investigations Into Antitrust & Mergers

“Chinese regulators recently have slowed down their merger reviews of a number of proposed acquisitions by US companies, including Intel Corp.’s $5.2 billion takeover of Israel-based Tower Semiconductor and chip maker MaxLinear Inc.’s $3.8 billion purchase of Silicon Motion Technology of Taiwan, according to people close to the process,” the WSJ wrote.

Microsoft’s $68.7 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard is “subject to Beijing’s lengthy merger scrutiny” because China last year “declined the companies’ request to file the deal under a simplified and expedited procedure,” the WSJ report said. The Microsoft/Activision deal also faces antitrust scrutiny in the UK and EU.