Foreign M&As given oversight

Panel will review proposed overseas purchases of domestic companies

BEIJING - China will establish a ministerial panel to review foreign firms' attempts to buy or merge with domestic companies, laying the ground for the country's first formal process for scrutinizing the national-security questions that arise from international deals.

The State Council, or China's Cabinet, said in a statement on Saturday that it was establishing a panel that would examine proposed foreign acquisitions of local companies dealing in military or national security work.