BEIJING – It's a good time for buyers to consider purchasing bad assets of lenders, but foreign investors may have little chance, said Mei Xingbao, the former president of China Orient Asset Management Corporation, on Sunday.

He said the concerns from authorities over foreign debt and speculative capital inflows will limit the opportunity of foreign players.

"Some non-performing assets involve sensitive industries which the government doesn't want foreign institutions to take part in," he told China Daily.

He is also a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

Mei said the less than 2 percent non-performing loan (NPL) ratio among Chinese banks is still at a very low level, although it showed some movement in the fourth quarter.

By the end of 2011, the NPL ratio for Chinese lenders stood at 0.96 percent, up by 0.01 percentage point from the third quarter, according to data from the China Banking Regulatory Commission.

In the fourth quarter, the amount of outstanding NPLs increased by 20.1 billion yuan ($3.19 billion), or 4.9 percent, from the three months earlier.

The total bad assets among lenders are less than $500 billion, and they are very attractive, said Mei.

He also mentioned that it is not easy for both Chinese and foreign investors to get a spoon if they want to purchase the assets directly. This is because many lenders tend to use their own profits to write off bad debts, or sell their stock shares at a much higher price to specific institutions.