Regulators in Hong Kong have launched an investigation at one of the city’s Chinese banks, one of several probes into the offshore financing activities of some of China’s most acquisitive conglomerates.
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority dispatched a team to China Citic Bank International to probe the overseas borrowing activities of companies such as airlines-to-finance group HNA and Zhonghong Zhuoye, which once owned a controlling stake in SeaWorld Entertainment, according to several people with knowledge of the matter.
The probe follows investigations by the Chinese government in 2017 that focused on a similar list of companies in the wake of an unparalleled overseas spending spree.