Brokerages, mutual funds face stress tests

    CHINA’S stocks regulator said Friday it will conduct stress tests on brokerages, mutual funds and commodity futures institutions to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the capital markets.

    The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) will use the test results to prevent systemic risk and create a framework of contingency plans in the event of extreme market conditions, said Zhang Xiaojun, a spokesman for the CSRC. Zhang said the regulator plans to examine how firms perform under extreme conditions, such as liquidity situations, among others.

    Fosun chairman in United States

    FOSUN International’s chairman Guo Guangchang has traveled to the United States, two company executives said Friday, suggesting that Chinese authorities were not restricting the movement of the billionaire.

    Fosun’s president Wang Qunbin said Dec. 12 that Guo was helping police with an investigation that mostly concerned his “personal affairs.” The investigation had sparked investor concern over Fosun, one of China’s most aggressive global dealmakers with stakes in French resort chain Club Med, Britain’s Thomas Cook Group and iconic U.S. building One Chase Manhattan Plaza.

    Thailand given US$7.71b RQFII quota

    CHINA will allow investors in Thailand to invest up to 50 billion yuan (US$7.71 billion) in China’s capital market, which will help facilitate trade and investment between the two countries.

    Qualified Thai investors will invest under the Renminbi Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor program, or RQFII. Launched in 2011, the RQFII program allows financial institutions to use offshore yuan to buy securities on the Chinese mainland, including stocks, bonds and money market investments.

    ChemChina improves offer to buy Syngenta

    CHINA National Chemical Corp. (ChemChina) has improved its offer to buy Syngenta AG, proposing a complex two-stage takeover that would mark the biggest-ever acquisition by a Chinese company, sources with knowledge of the matter said Saturday.

    ChemChina offered to purchase 70 percent of Syngenta now, with an option to acquire the remaining 30 percent of the company at a later date, said the sources. Basel-based Syngenta, the world’s largest pesticide maker, will hold a board meeting before the end of the year to vote on the deal, the sources said.