China M&A Wave Targeting GNC Vitamins, Oil Storage Faces Threat

(Bloomberg) -- A Chinese dealmaking spree that's targeted everything from GNC vitamins to oil storage facilities could be threatened by the Trump administration's potential new restrictions on foreign purchases in the country.

Companies from China have announced $5.5 billion of acquisitions in the U.S. that are still pending, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Those transactions could come under the crosshairs as the Trump administration considers a broad clampdown on investments from the world's most populous country, people familiar with the matter said this week. 

The new measures could go beyond national security considerations, and the White House is looking at ways to only allow takeovers in sectors that U.S. companies can access in China, according to the people.

Chinese companies have announced around $120 billion of acquisitions in the U.S. over the past three years as part of an unprecedented outbound deal spree, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The pace of U.S. purchases hit a record in 2016 before falling 61 percent last year, the data show.

Anthony Scaramucci's agreement to sell his stake in Skybridge Capital to Chinese conglomerate HNA Group Co. has been pending for more than a year. The panel that reviews foreign takeovers of U.S. businesses accepted the sale for review last month, people familiar with the matter said at the time. HNA is also still trying to complete the purchase of another $196 million of U.S. oil storage assets from Glencore Plc, after earlier completing a $579 million deal with the company.

Also among pending deals are Chinese drugmaker Harbin Pharmaceutical Group Holding Co.'s planned $300 million investment in health supplement maker GNC Holdings Inc., according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The purchase of convertible perpetual preferred stock could eventually make Harbin Pharmaceutical the biggest shareholder in the vitamin brand.

Here of some of the biggest deals waiting to be completed:

--With assistance from Cathy Chan Chen He and Xiaoyu Zhu

To contact the reporter on this story: Timothy Sifert in Hong Kong at tsifert@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Scent at bscent@bloomberg.net, Timothy Sifert

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