M&As lose pace after supervision stepped up

Source: Xinhua | 2017-01-10

MERGERS and acquisitions activity in China lost momentum last year after the securities regulator moved to enhance supervision.

Last year, 8,380 M&A deals were announced, down 28.5 percent from the previous year, investment research firm ChinaVenture said in a research report yesterday.

Of all the M&A deals, 6,642 had a combined transaction value of US$540.6 billion, it said. Both figures fell 31 percent from a year earlier.

Internet, IT and manufacturing are the top-three sectors by deal numbers.

Finance, resources and manufacturing are the top three by value.

Contrary to the lackluster domestic market, Chinese companies spent big overseas.

In the first 10 months of 2016, the value of overseas M&As involving Chinese companies beat US$200 billion, double the figure for the whole of 2015, ChinaVenture said.