The directive to know your counter-party can be hard to fulfil in China. As the government’s anti-corruption purge has spread into the private sector, even standardbearers for Chinese industry and finance are no longer in the clear. The ripples may be affecting their ability to do business.
Yesterday Fosun International, the Chinese investment conglomerate, said it would no longer buy Phoenix, the Israeli insurance company. The deal, at $462m, was not large by Fosun’s standards — the company spent more than $30bn in 2014 and 2015 to purchase Club Med, the French tour operator, and Cirque du Soleil, the Canadian entertainment group. With net debt of $9bn and net debt to equity of 63 per cent, the sum to be paid for Phoenix was manageable.
The cancellation is significant for other reasons, though. It is the second time Fosun has stepped away from a deal in three months — and in its targeted financial sector. In December, Fosun withdrew from the battle to buy Kleinwort Benson, the merchant bank. Last month, it sold its 29 per cent stake in the bank to Oddo. To be fair, Fosun may not have wished to compete against a bid that was 10 per cent higher, and it made a profit on the sale of its stake. Yet for a company that models itself on the acquisitive style of Warren Buffett, the axing of deals sits awkwardly. And competition did not deter Fosun from buying Club Med — to win that battle, Fosun paid 45 per cent more than its initial offer price.