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.