Benzinga | Oct 12, 2021 09:33AM EDT

More Trouble Brews For Alibaba, Tencent As China Ramps Up Anti-Monopoly Bureau

* China's competition watchdog, the State Administration for Market Regulation, will ramp up staffing at its anti-monopoly bureau, Bloomberg reports.

* The bureau will split into three separate divisions focusing on antitrust investigations, market competition, and mergers oversight.

* The bureau aims to increase the number of antitrust officials from over 40 currently to 100 before reaching 150 within five years.

* The moves signal the SAMR, which has extracted billions in penalties from Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA) and Meituan (OTC:MPNGF) (OTC:MPNGY) for market abuse, is moving into a new phase of enforcing a plethora of regulations.

* President Xi Jinping sought to strengthen antitrust work to ensure fair competition to thwart Alibaba and Tencent Holdings Ltd's (OTC:TCEHY) growing dominance.

* SAMR deputy director Gan Lin would likely lead the administration, while Wu Zhenguo, who currently heads the anti-monopoly division, will head the new investigation bureau.

* Related Content: How China's Financial Sector Probe Could Pose Risk For Alibaba, DiDi?

* Price Action: BABA shares traded lower by 0.46% at $163.25 on the last check Tuesday.