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Business secretary says move to protect Bristol-based electronic design firm ‘necessary to mitigate the risk’

The UK has blocked the takeover of an electronic design company by a Hong Kong rival over national security concerns, in the latest sign of growing British anxiety about Chinese investment.

The business secretary, Kwasi Kwarteng, took the decision to prevent Super Orange HK from acquiring Bristol-based Pulsic, saying it was “necessary and proportionate to mitigate the risk to national security”.

It comes under the new National Security and Investment Act, which was introduced at the start of the year.

The government’s move is its latest attempt to curtail Chinese ownership of significant British companies, in particular technology firms or those with strategic importance…