GENERAL Electric Co's plan to buy a stake in Shenzhen Development Bank Co is in doubt because of regulations on private placements and stock-price gains, the Asian Wall Street Journal reported yesterday, citing the bank's chairman.

Any deal with GE would have to be restructured to take into account rules imposed by the Chinese securities regulator last year that private placements can't be completed at less than 90 percent of a stock's recent trading price on the open market, the newspaper said, citing Shenzhen Development Chairman Frank Newman.

GE agreed to buy a seven-percent stake in Shenzhen Development at about 5.25 yuan (70 US cents) a share in October 2005 and affirmed the deal in June 2006, said Bloomberg News. The yuan-denominated A shares of Shenzhen Development have surged 163 percent this year in Shenzhen trading. The stock closed at 38 yuan on Friday.