BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s financial regulator said on Wednesday it will launch a pilot program to relax merger and acquisition (M&A) loan issuance to technology firms, according to a statement released by the National Financial Regulatory Administration.
Under the pilot program, the proportion of such loans will be allowed to account for as much as 80% of a firm’s total M&A transactions, up from no more than 60% under current rules, the regulator said.
The loan term will be relaxed to a maximum of 10 years from the current seven years, it said.
The pilot program will cover 18 cities including Shanghai and Beijing, according to the statement.
(Reporting by Ziyi Tang and Ryan Woo; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
