China pushes Asia’s M&As past US$1 trillion for 2015

BEIJING - Outbound acquisitions by China in 2015 helped push Asia-Pacific’s annual deal value past US$1 trillion for the first time, with even greater expectations for 2016 as Chinese firms buy more assets abroad to sidestep slowing domestic growth.

Asia-Pacific M&As totalled US$1.2 trillion to mid-December, an increase of 46% from 2014, according to preliminary data from Thomson Reuters, with China’s return to outbound deals following a 20% drop in 2014. Data shows that Chinese firms spent a record of US$102 billion, with private companies like Fosun International Ltd leading the charge.

“China is on the move, we are preparing for a busy year for deal making,” said Joseph Gallager of Credit Suisse, who manages Asia-Pacific M&A. “Chinese outbound activity is set to pick up with a focus on the semiconductor, power and financial sectors.”

China’s mainland, Hong Kong and Australia were the three most active M&A markets in Asia-Pacific, the data showed. China’s large State-owned enterprises played a less active role in 2015 compared with the mid-2000s as President Xi Jinping’s wide-ranging anti-graft investigations made officials cautious of making big decisions, bankers said. www.webershandwick.cn (ATI).