China investigates Meituan and Alibaba units for suspected violations of competition laws

SHANGHAI, Sept 19 (Reuters) - China's market regulator is investigating Meituan (3690.HK), opens new tab unit Beijing Sankuai Information Technology for suspected violations of unfair competition laws, the country's official CCTV broadcaster reported on Saturday.

China has been cracking down on monopolistic behaviour, most recently fining Trip.com (9961.HK), opens new tab $770 million over what the regulator said was its ⁠online hotel-booking monopoly, as Beijing struggles to bolster consumption amid a slowing economy.

The Beijing branch of the State Administration for Market Regulation said Alibaba (9988.HK), opens new tab unit Hangzhou Taomei Aviation Services, Tongcheng Network Technology and Tujia Online Information Technology (Tianjin) were also subject to investigation after preliminary findings, according to CCTV.

Tongcheng and Tujia said in posts on their official WeChat accounts that their operations are normal ⁠and that they are cooperating with authorities. Meituan said in a post on its official website that it will cooperate with authorities.

The four companies have not responded to requests for comment from Reuters.

The ⁠China Hotels Association said on Saturday that Beijing's branch of SAMR has started investigating four online hotel and travel booking platforms for unfair ⁠competitive practices, without identifying the operators of the platforms.

The statement on the association's website said the move followed a meeting ⁠held by the SAMR and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism for the online booking industry.

Reporting by Ryan Woo and Engen Tham; Editing by Sam Holmes and Tom Hogue

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