China's top securities regulator condemns 'barbaric' stake acquisition

BEIJING - China's top securities regulator Liu Shiyu slammed Saturday the practice of leveraged acquisition with "questionable" funds, calling the buyers "barbaric."

Liu, chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission, made the remarks during a meeting of the Asset Management Association of China, a self-regulatory body that oversees private funds.

Any attempt to acquire a majority stake in a listed firm using funds from questionable sources is crossing the line, Liu said.

Acquisition backed by insurance funds will inevitably affect the target company's share price, and could threaten the corporate governance structure.

"Funneling public funds into leveraged acquisition means ordinary investors will ultimately bear the risks," he said, underscoring this is absolutely not "financial innovation."

His criticism is seen as partly alluding to recent instances of high-profile A-share acquisitions, including a bid by property developer China Evergrande Group to acquire 14.07 percent shares of its peer China Vanke Co Ltd with 36.27 billion yuan ($5.26 billion).