Collapse of $1.2 billion purchase of MoneyGram by Chinese company could signal tougher stance in Washington
The Trump administration may be building another kind of wall — one blocking acquisitions of U. S. finance firms by Chinese companies.
Ant, the Chinese financial services firm controlled by Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma, on Wednesday abandoned its $1.2 billion agreement to buy MoneyGram ( MGI) after it failed to win approval from the federal Committee for Foreign Investment in the United States. CFIUS, as the panel is called, reviews cross-border mergers for their potential impact on national security.
According to Reuters, CFIUS’s concerns centered on Ant gaining access to MoneyGram data that could be used to identify American citizens.
But some analysts think the committee’s move is less about the particulars of this deal than a broader reluctance to sanction Chinese investment in America’s financial sector.
„To us, the clear message here is that the Trump administration will refuse to clear any effort by Chinese companies to purchase or take large stakes in U. S. financial firms,“ Jaret Seiberg, an analyst at Cowen, wrote in a note to clients. „The merits of the transaction are irrelevant. There simply appears to be a de facto ban on CFIUS giving its blessing to any financial deals involving China.“
CFIUS, which is led by the Treasury Department, also includes the departments of Justice, Homeland Security, Commerce, Defense, State, Energy, as well as the offices of the U.
