China's revised Foreign Investment Catalogue 2011 moves healthcare service sectors to 'permitted' category

Concord Medical Services Holdings Limited (the "Company" or "Concord Medical") (NYSE: CCM), operator of the largest network of radiotherapy and diagnostic imaging centers in China, comments on the newly issued Foreign Investment Catalogue 2011 revision (the "Revised Catalogue") which moved healthcare service sectors to "permitted" from "restricted" category.

On December 24, 2011, China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and Ministry of Commerce (MOC) jointly issued the Revised Catalogue which will take effect on January 30, 2012. The "Foreign Investment Catalogue 2007 revision" current in effect will be superseded simultaneously.  

The notable changes in the Revised Catalogue include: first, expanding the sectors that are opened to foreign investment and relaxed restrictions; secondly, encouraging foreign investment in service sectors, high-end manufacturing sectors, and high tech enterprises.

The Revised Catalogue expanded the "encouraged" categories and reduced "restricted" and "prohibited" categories. Foreign-invested healthcare service is removed from the "restricted" categories. The change means that there would be no more restrictions on shareholding percentage by foreign investors in these sectors. All regulatory approval processes for foreign investment still apply.

"We are very pleased to see the investment environment becoming more friendly and conducive to companies such as Concord Medical," Dr. Jianyu Yang, Chairman and CEO of Concord Medical, comments. "The new policy will open more investment opportunities for us. We are determined to take advantage of the latest change and strive to achieve our goal of becoming a leader in the high-end, specialty healthcare service sectors in China."

Initially promulgated by the NDRC and the Ministry of Commerce in 1995, the "Foreign Investment Catalogue" serves as guidance for foreign investors in China by stipulating foreign invested sectors into different categories such as "encouraged," "restricted" and "prohibited". The Catalogue has long been a major guideline of Chinese government's strategy to open Chinese market to foreign investors.