Foreign direct investment up 2.6% in March

CHINA attracted US$13.45 billion in foreign direct investment last month, up 2.6 percent from a year earlier, official data showed.

In the first three months of the year, foreign companies invested US$34.51 billion in China, up 2.1 percent from a year earlier, the Ministry of Commerce said Thursday. Growth during the January-March period was faster than the 0.5 percent year-over-year growth reported for the January-February period.

Regulator revives outbound investment program

CHINA’S foreign exchange regulator has invited financial institutions to seek new quotas under its Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor (QDII) program, reviving the outbound investment program after a three-year hiatus, the Securities Times reported Thursday.

The State Administration of Foreign Exchange has recently met with banks, insurers, securities firms and mutual fund houses to discuss QDII quota issuance, the Shenzhen-based newspaper said, citing participants. The QDII program was created by China to allow domestic investors to invest overseas. The program had about US$90 billion issued to institutions at the end of March.

Central Huijin to sell 9.5% stake in CICC

CHINA International Capital Corp. (CICC) said its biggest shareholder, Central Huijin Investment Co., has put up for sale a roughly 9.5 percent stake in the company worth about 5 billion yuan (US$796.80 million).

The stake sale is expected to diversify its investor base and optimize its shareholding structure, said CICC, one of China’s largest investment banks, in an exchange filing Wednesday. The stake has been put up for sale via the Beijing Financial Assets Exchange. Central Huijin, the investment unit of China’s sovereign wealth fund, currently holds an about 55.7 percent stake in CICC.

US co-working firm to buy China-based rival

U.S. co-working firm WeWork Cos. is planning to buy China-based rival Naked Hub, sources familiar with the deal said, a move which would boost the New York firm’s footprint in China.

The deal, referred to as a merger internally, was announced to Naked Hub staff Thursday morning, the sources said. Naked Hub, headquartered in Shanghai, has around 50 opened and planned locations across the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Vietnam. Its chief executive said in January the firm was looking to expand around Asia and have 200 locations by 2020.