China's shopping spree: UK businesses taken over

Here is a list of well-known British companies and services to have fallen into Chinese hands: 1. Weetabix : 60% share in the breakfast cereal maker bought on Wednesday in a deal worth £1.2bn by Bright Food. 2. Gieves & Hawkes : famous Savile Row tailor sold on Wednesday to Trinity, an upmarket Chinese menswear company, for an initial £32m, rising to a maximum of £60m, subject to the future growth of Gieves & Hawkes's business in China. 3. Thames Water : China's sovereign wealth fund paid an estimated £600m-£700m for an 8.6% share in Britain's biggest water company in January 4. Northumbria Water : Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing bought the north-east water company for £2.4bn last year . 5. Felixstowe port : also owned by Li's Cheung Kong Infrastructure. 6. Birmingham City Football Club : Hong Kong businessman Carson Yeung paid a reported £57m for the then Premier League team. 6. MG Rover cars : The Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation became the owner of MG Rover's Longbridge plant in Birmingham after a merger in late 2007 with its smaller rival Nanjing Automobile Group. The Longbridge plant was dismantled and reassembled in China. Lotus Cars could be next. A report last week said that the sports car manufacturer was in sale talks with a Chinese company.