Private equity scouts for China take-private deals

A worker wearing a face mask cleans the floor, near a Baidu AI robot which shows a face mask on its screen, at Baidu's headquarters in Beijing, following the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, China May 18, 2020. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang

HONG KONG: Private equity investors are seeking Chinese companies to take private in the hope they can snap up bargains amid the coronavirus-related sell-off, but the banks that help find such deals are proving less keen to finance them.

Interest in Chinese take-private deals is also rising along with tension between China and the United States, as several companies consider whether to keep a New York listing or move instead to Shanghai, Shenzhen or Hong Kong.