China's Dalian Wanda group and Tencent Holdings Ltd said on Friday they would set up a 5 billion yuan ($814 million) e-commerce joint venture with Baidu Inc, as the firms push into the high-growth e-commerce sector.

China Huarong Asset Management Co Ltd, the country's biggest bad-debt manager, said on Thursday regulators have approved a deal for it to sell a 20.98 percent stake to a consortium of eight investors for 14.5 billion yuan ($2.4 billion).

Hony Capital, one of China's biggest private equity firms, has agreed to buy a 15 billion yuan ($246 million) stake in Shanghai Jin Jiang International Hotels Development Co, the hotel company said on Thursday.

China will encourage more private investment in health insurance, part of Beijing's push to open up its overburdened healthcare sector, the official Xinhua news agency said late on Wednesday.

China will allow foreign investors to wholly own hospitals in seven cities and provinces, further opening up the country's fast-growing private hospital sector.

Global private equity firm Carlyle Group is in talks with China Vanke Co Ltd to acquire some of Vanke's commercial properties through assets or shares acquisition, the biggest Chinese property developer said on Thursday.

China's privately held Dalian Wanda Group is set to launch a 5 billion yuan ($813 million) e-commerce joint venture with domestic Internet giants Tencent Holdings Ltd and Baidu Inc, according to two sources familiar with the investment.

A former director at China's powerful economic planning agency who oversaw pricing is being investigated, financial news magazine Caixin reported on Wednesday, the latest high-level official from the department to be probed.

New Zealand's Fonterra on Wednesday said it will take a stake in Chinese baby food and formula maker Beingmate Baby and Child Food Co Ltd in the dairy giant's first tie-up with a Chinese processor since its involvement in a tainted infant formula scandal in 2008.

China's corruption watchdog said on Tuesday it is investigating one former and one current executive at Volkswagen AG's Chinese venture, FAW-Volkswagen Automotive Co Ltd, for "seriously violating the law."