As Chinese companies make more investments overseas, they are building up a reserve of experience in all areas of deal making. Investment is focused on an increasingly wide range of objectives, including scaling revenues through growth in new markets, diversification, and progressing along the value chain.
The global downturn did little to halt this trend. Chinese companies completed 60 deals in developed markets alone during 2009, with a further 39 deals in the first half of 2010.1 China now ranks as the fifth largest global outbound investor with a total volume of USD 56.5 billion in 2009, compared to a ranking of twelfth in 2008, according to the Ministry of Commerce.2
This publication defines some of the common elements of world-class M&A and investment practices, and assesses how Chinese companies are matching up as they develop their outbound strategies.