China Everbright CEO Criticizes SOEs' M&A Strategy

(Beijing) — The head of a company that helps Chinese firms invest abroad has publicly questioned the wisdom of some mergers and acquisitions that state-owned enterprises (SOEs) have made in recent years, saying that many of them are merely vanity projects.

Chen Shuang, CEO of China Everbright Ltd., a Hong Kong subsidiary of financial conglomerate China Everbright Group, made the remarks last week at a corporate conference in Qingdao, and come as China's outbound investments involving M&As are surging.