China Minsheng Banking Corp, the country’s first private lender, says it is planning to buy more overseas rivals, in particular in Europe, but said a long-delayed plan to raise acquisition funds via a Hong Kong listing is hung up on pricing. Speaking to Reuters on the sidelines of China’s top political advisory meeting in Beijing, Chairman Dong Wenbiao said Minsheng wants to buy banks with existing branch networks in Hong Kong and Europe. “I think it’s a right time to make overseas acquisitions right now,” said Dong, adding foreign assets are relatively cheaper than previously while investors may be overly worried about the economic impact from the U.S. credit crisis. Last October, Minsheng Bank agreed to buy 9.9 percent of San Francisco-based UCBH Holdings for more than $200 million in the first strategic investment by a mainland Chinese bank in a U.S. bank. Dong said his bank had no plans to acquire other U.S. banks.

Google is expected to receive unconditional approval from European Union regulators next week for its $3.1 billion takeover of ad firm DoubleClick, according to people familiar with the situation. The approval has long been expected because the European Commission decided in January not to object formally to the transaction. The Commission, the EU’s top competition watchdog, has never rejected a deal without sending formal objections.

The owners of German chemicals group Cognis are gearing up for a second attempt to sell the business later this year, according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter. Interested parties can expect to pay about 3 billion euros ($4.6 billion), the source said, making it the biggest deal in German chemicals since 2006. Industry insiders said the auction would interest trade buyers such as Dow Chemicals and BASF. Cognis makes ingredients for L’Oreal cosmetics and Becel low-cholesterol margarine. It is owned by Permira, one of Europe’s biggest private equity investors, and Wall Street titan Goldman Sachs.

Europe’s top court condemned Spain for defying a European Commission judgment on an energy firm takeover and warned Madrid it must obey Brussels’ rulings. The European Court of Justice said Spain violated European Union law by placing conditions on the failed 42 billion euro ($64.2 billion) acquisition of Spanish utility Endesa by Germany’s E.ON. The move puts pressure on the Spanish government, which faces a general election in three days, because it also put conditions on a subsequent agreement to buy Endesa. Late last year, Madrid imposed conditions on plans by Italian utility Enel and Spanish building group Acciona to buy the Spanish utility. The companies accepted the conditions and the deal went through. In January, Industry Minister Joan Clos said Spain would stand by the conditions it had imposed on Enel and Acciona and defend them before the Court of Justice. Asked about the ruling, Spanish Economy Minister Pedro Solbes said EU rules were contradictory and complex.