China-backed fund may seek Trump deal approval

A China-backed private equity fund will decide this week whether to seek US President Donald Trump’s approval for its proposed $1.3 billion acquisition of US chipmaker Lattice Semiconductor Corp, sources told Reuters. Buyout firm Canyon Bridge Capital Partners has spent close to eight months trying unsuccessfully to persuade the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to clear the deal. Critics of the deal worry that technology gained through the acquisition could be used by China’s military, but the companies have argued that it poses no such risk. The US president has the final authority to suspend or prohibit such investments. This would be the first such case to hit Trump’s desk if the merger partners decide to seek his review, and the fourth time in the last three decades that a CFIUS case would go to the White House. The Lattice deal’s woes underscore a US drive to prevent the transfer of sensitive technology to China.