Private equity firms will be required to publicly disclose how much they invest in China and other “countries of concern” under the terms of a new bipartisan bill introduced by two US senators on Thursday, according to a report by Reuters.
The bill, introduced by Democratic Senator Bob Casey and Republican Senator Rick Scott, is the latest effort to track US.investments in the world’s second largest economy.
The report quotes Casey as saying in a statement that: “The American people deserve to know where and how their savings are being invested.”
US private investment firms have invested more than $80bn in China between 2018 and 2022, some via pension plans, according to Casey’s office, raising fears in some quarters that US dollars and expertise are helping Beijing make technological advances to modernize the country’s military.
As well as China, the bill would require PE funds to annually disclose assets invested in Iran, Russia and North Korea to the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
