Australia has taken a harder line to foreign investment particularly since the United States raised concerns over the involvement in telecommunications networks of Chinese base-station maker Huawei Technologies Co Ltd.

On Monday, Beijing-backed China Mengniu Dairy Co Ltd offered $13.25 per share to buy Bellamy's Australia Ltd, valuing the infant milk powder producer at A$1.5 billion (£825 million).

Meanwhile, conglomerate Lendlease Group sale of its engineering services business has attracted interest from more than one Chinese party, sources told Reuters.

The following is a list of major foreign investment deals that Australia rejected over the past decade.

REJECTED FOREIGN INVESTMENT DEALS

2019

Huawei is blocked from participating in Australia's fifth-generation (5G) mobile network on national security grounds

2018

A A$13 billion ($8.90 billion) bid for natural gas company APA Group by Hong Kong's CK Infrastructure Holdings Ltd is rejected by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg citing the concentration of foreign ownership in gas transmission

2016

Current Prime Minister and then-Treasurer Scott Morrison rejects a A$10 billion bid for 50.4% of electricity distributor Ausgrid from CKI and State Grid Corp of China citing security concerns

Morrison also rejects a A$371 million bid from Shanghai CRED and Hunan Dakang Pasture Farming for S. Kidman and Co, one of Australia's largest beef producers, saying the sale is not in the national interest

2013

A A$3.4 billion bid from U.S. food processor Archer Daniels Midland Co for agri-business Graincorp Ltd is rejected by then-Treasurer Joe Hockey on competition and national interest grounds

2011

Singapore Exchange Ltd's A$8 billion bid for peer ASX Ltd is rejected by Wayne Swan, treasurer under the administration of Julia Gillard, who said the deal would diminish Australia's economic and regulatory sovereignty

2009

A A$1.75 billion bid from Hong Kong's Minmetals Land Ltd for OZ Minerals Ltd is altered when Swan rules the Prominent Hill mine in South Australia near the Woomera military zone could not be part of the deal

(Reporting by Scott Murdoch; Editing by Christopher Cushing)

By Scott Murdoch