Our daily round-up of the best China stories from the 21st Century Business Herald.

Shanghai-based pharmaceutical firm under acquisition investigation

Shanghai Pharmaceuticals Holdings Co Ltd (2607.HK,601607.SH) is being investigated by mainland and Hong Kong securities regulators over two major acquisitions after it listed in Hong Kong last year, said a company source, who wished to remain anonymous.

Shanghai Pharmaceutical acquired Changzhou Kony Pharma Co. Ltd. in February and the intangible assets of Shanghai Asia Pioneer Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. in March.

(The Asia Pioneer transaction should be completed in April 26, according to a statement released on the Hong Kong Securities Exchange.)

“We are probably the next Boshiwa International],” the source said.

Shares in Boshiwa International Holding Ltd. (1698.HK), a Shanghai-based maker of children’s goods and apparel including licenses Harry Potter products, have been suspended from trading since March 15 because of an accounting scandal. The firm’s stock is down 66 percent from its September 2010 listing price.

Shanghai official confirms recruitment scandal


Huang Yibo, an official in Shanghai’s district-level personnel system, confirmed that a candidate for a civil servant position in Gansu province who had come top in a written test was rejected at the interview stage because he had no “background” of relations with officials.

“Similar cases have long existed,” Huang said, “especially for those candidates who topped the written test results competing for a one-person position.”

There has been a recent storm of controversy on the internet over civil servant recruitment, which many netizens believe is unfair.

Beijing housing transactions surge 40pc m-o-m in May


Industry experts said the government may have intervened to support the property market in Beijing as real estate transactions surged 40 percent in May from a month earlier, bucking a recent trend of declines.

China’s top court releases first details of an inside trading crime committed by former Chinese tycoon Huang Guangyu