India blocks huge Chinese acquisition amid border row – China’s latest business and technology news
A summary of the top news in Chinese business and technology for July 31, 2017. Part of the daily The China Project newsletter, a convenient package of China’s business, political, and cultural news delivered to your inbox for free. Subscribe here.
Sources tell Bloomberg that a proposed $1.3 billion takeover of India’s Gland Pharma by China’s Fosun Pharma has been blocked by India’s Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs. The move is “almost like a sanction,” a commentator told Bloomberg, considering the geopolitical context: a months-long border conflict between the two sides called the “worst in 30 years,” with prominent figures on the Indian side considering the slice of land called Doklam a “significant security challenge” where the country must challenge China.
The pharmaceutical takeover would have been the largest Chinese acquisition of an Indian company if it had gone through. Meanwhile, Chinese drugmakers continue to focus on accessing the world’s largest pharmaceutical market: the United States. China’s Sanpower Group earlier this year bought Valeant Pharmaceuticals International for $820 million, and Humanwell Healthcare “is part of a consortium that agreed in June to buy U.S.-based RiteDose for about $605 million.”
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Belt and Road
China’s $300 million investment in Abu Dhabi Ports is a ‘milestone’ / CNBC -
Macro trends
China factory activity loses momentum, signaling possible economic slowdown / WSJ (paywall)
China July factory growth cools but construction boom fortifies economy / Reuters -
Regional economic trends
A look under China’s hood reveals an economic divergence / Bloomberg -
Europe
Special report: How China’s biggest bank became ensnared in a sprawling money laundering probe / Reuters -
Ecommerce
In China, designer goods delivered to your doorstep / NYT (paywall) -
Cashless society
UnionPay struggles in increasingly cashless China / Caixin
