Lim Chong Kin shares his views on competition law in the growing trend of Chinese-funded acquisitions

21 May 2012

ZDNet Asia

Head of Competition Law & Regulatory Practice, Lim Chong Kin shared that it was important for countries to maintain a transparent and robust approach toward the use of competition law to instil investor confidence in countries trying to attract foreign investment to grow or revive their industries.

His views were featured in a report that highlighted the rise in Chinese-funded acquisitions and how these “cash rich” Chinese firms could increasingly run into regulatory clearance issues overseas

Chong Kin pointed out that: "Using competition law to block foreign entry discriminatorily may cause existing investors to reconsider their long term commitment to a country as there is always the fear that competition law can be used against them for non-legitimate purposes. The function of competition law is to protect the competitive structure of markets and not as a tool to protect national champions or administer nationalistic policies. As such, if there are national security concerns, it is better for these to be directly addressed by specific security agencies rather than through the inappropriate use of general competition law by competition authorities.”

Read the report on ZDNet Asia