US $2.5bn YY buyout halted amid relisting scrutiny

Investors have halted plans for a $2.5 billion bid for a Chinese company listed in New York, in the latest fallout from China’s attempts to clamp down on speculation in its markets. A group that includes Lei Jun, founder of Xiaomi , has stopped working on an offer for Nasdaq-listed online karaoke site YY Inc., as regulators in China step up scrutiny of such companies returning to home markets, according The Wall Street Journal. The investor group could revive the offer later and doesn’t plan to publicly announce an end to the bid, they said. YY was one of 37 U.S.-listed Chinese companies that had planned to delist from New York in pursuit of higher valuations on Chinese markets.