BizChina

China's State Council laid out long-awaited rules and procedures for national-security reviews of foreign mergers and acquisitions.

The government's intent to establish a formal process for reviewing national-security issues around international deals has been known since 2008, when new antitrust legislation went into effect. On Saturday, a government statement outlined the specific procedures for the first time.

Under the rules, China's National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Commerce, the two ministries that already review mergers under the antitrust rules, will lead the new national-security-review committee.

The committee will review mergers and acquisitions targeting key companies in the defense, agriculture, energy, resources, infrastructure, transportation and equipment-manufacturing and technology industries, the statement said. It will apply a broad definition of national security, assessing the impact of deals on economic stability, social order and China's ability to research and develop key technologies for national defense, according to the rules.

Eric Jackson spoke today with Benzinga regarding Jim Chanos’ appearance on CNBC today and his bearish perspective on China. Jackson, as opposed to Chanos, is very bullish on China from a macro perspective and even visited the country to verify his position. In contrast, the famous hedge fund manager Chanos is very bearish on China, despite having never visiting its mainland.

Jackson was quick to mention his projection of China is only meant to be interpreted for next year or two. In this mid-term perspective, Jackson brings the timing of Chanos’s famed prediction of a Chinese property market crash into question. Jackson particularly singles out the fact that Chanos has harped upon an imminent crash for over a year and this crash has, well, yet to occur. Jackson is confident this supposed “crash” will not occur over the next year.

On the phone, Jackson felt strongly that Chanos, as an influential hedge fund manager with over $6B under management, should do his requisite due diligence before making his bold predictions. Chanos needs to visit these “ghost towns” and other foreshadows of doom before he can be confident that China will actually crash. Jackson thinks that if Chanos actually went to China, he might be pleasantly surprised at the state of the economy and the housing market. On twitter, Jackson suggested that Chanos meet with Chinese people to have better understanding of the true situation.

Encana Corp. said Wednesday it entered a 5.4 billion-Canadian-dollar (US$5.43 billion) deal with PetroChina Co. to develop hard-to-reach natural-gas reserves, further deepening the energy ties between Canada and China.

The agreement comes as Canadian oil and gas producers are seeking customers outside North America, which is currently awash in both fuels. In particular, they are targeting Asia, where energy prices are higher and demand is growing quickly.

Calgary-based Encana, one of North America's largest gas producers, said it and PetroChina will split the costs and profits from developing so-called shale and deep gas wells in a 635,000-acre area stretched across northeastern British Columbia and northwestern Alberta. The area, called Cutbank Ridge, has proven reserves of about 1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and current production of 255 million cubic feet a day.

Encana and PetroChina signed a memorandum of understanding last summer to jointly develop shale gas properties. Encana executives have said they are actively seeking partnerships with foreign investors to help fund the development of a huge inventory of shale gas in western Canada.

Two more Carrefour stores were found to have overcharged customers, after 11 of the French retailer's stores in China were fined 500,000 yuan ($76,000) each in a government campaign to crack down on price manipulation during the Spring Festival holiday.

Guangzhou-based New Express Daily reported on Sunday that during a Spring Festival inspection, the Guangzhou price bureau found that Carrefour's Xinshi and Tianheyuancun stores were selling goods for more than the tag prices.

"An investigation is under way but the illegal pricing practices have been confirmed," Wu Linbo, deputy director of the Guangzhou price bureau, was quoted by the newspaper as saying. According to the newspaper, the local government will soon publicize the penalty it decides upon.

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) announced on Jan 26 that 11 Carrefour stores and three Wal-Mart stores were found to be overcharging customers and urged local authorities to act.