Three Gorges’ US$10bil rethink dashes M&A revival hopes

HONG KONG: When China Three Gorges Corp offered more than US$10bil last year to take over Portugal’s biggest power utility, bankers rejoiced that the flow of Chinese outbound acquisitions had started up again.

It was only the third mega deal out of China since the heady days of 2016, when US$239bil of foreign purchases were announced. The fact that EDP-Energias de Portugal SA was being pursued by Three Gorges, a state-owned firm, was taken as a sign that Beijing would bless selective strategic deals while reining in inexperienced companies’ more frothy purchases.