Chinese corporation sell $40bn worth of overseas assets

Chinese corporations who became big player in international acquisitions a decade ago have now become net sellers of global assets for the first time this year.

The recent trend is triggered by a 30-year low slow economic growth in China amid trade tensions with the US.

Chinese companies have agreed to sell $40bn in overseas assets so far this year up from $32bn for the entire last year. Chinese groups have bought $35bn of overseas assets.

Business conditions have deteriorated for many companies that just two years ago were striking multibillion-dollar deals in the US and Europe. Access to credit has also tightened, pushing some recent acquirers into default.

In 2016, Chinese companies struck more than $2300bn in overseas asset deals while taking high levels of debt.

Airline to finance group HNA which bought multi-billion dollar stakes in Hilton and Deutsche Bank in 2016 and 2017, has offloaded $20bn in assets since late 2017 after facing a liquidity crunch in China. Anburg Insurance was taken over by the government in 2017, has sold off much of its global porfolio, including a group of hotels sold last week to Korea’s Mirae Asset for $5.8bn.