U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) asked for a national security review of plans by General Nutrition Centers, or GNC, to sell itself to Harbin Pharmaceutical Group Co Ltd., Reuters reported. Rubio, who had also urged a probe of TikTok’s ownership by another Chinese firm, made the request in a letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. The department leads the inter-agency Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). GNC, a health and nutrition products retailer, has said it has agreed in principle with many lenders to sell itself to an affiliate of its largest shareholder, Harbin Pharmaceutical, for $760 million in a court-supervised auction, subject to higher bids. Harbin’s controlling stake was reviewed by CFIUS and approved in 2018, a GNC spokesperson said, adding that no consumer data was available to any foreign national.
