[Music]
what's the most fascinating country on
the deal-making stage over the last five
years it's China why because they
started spending an unprecedented amount
of cash overseas and now they are
nowhere to be seen in particular the US
has gotten very sensitive about the
Chinese trying to buy its technology and
as a result has taken steps to stop them
from buying just about anything
according to President Trump it's a
matter of national security
Chinese deal-making in the US fell into
the single-digit billions in 2018 and
that's down from the tens of billions of
dollars in the preceding years this is
part of what is driving the trade
dispute between the two countries the
u.s. seizes the Chinese trying to get
their hands on sensitive US technology
while the Chinese are concerned about
the u.s. trying to stop them from rising
as a nation the combination of these
tensions came last year when President
Trump struck down a hundred and forty
two billion dollar bid by a Singapore
based company called Broadcom to buy a
u.s. chip maker called Qualcomm that
prompted China to retaliate by
suffocating Qualcomm's planned 44
billion dollar takeover of a Dutch
company called NXP Semiconductors but
it's important to know that the pushback
against Chinese acquisitions is not
limited to the US over the last few
years Germany in the UK in Canada and
Australia have all introduced new
measures to block foreign acquisitions
reading between the lines it's all aimed
at one country China it's not just
President Trump back in the US Congress
with a bipartisan vote gave cepheus the
Committee on Foreign Investment in the
US which has the power to block inbound
deals more tools to limit foreign deal
making so are we expecting Chinese
deal-making to return to the record
level seen a few years ago well
unfortunately for dealmakers the answer
is probably no
you