China outbound mergers and acquisitions (M&As) surged to $134 billion in the first half of 2016, almost four times the total for the previous six months, PwC said on Wednesday.
Even after deducting ChemChina's $43 billion bid for Syngenta - the biggest ever by a Chinese buyer - outbound M&A grew by 161 percent compared with the second half of 2015.
According to the report, the mass movement to go global for Chinese companies is supported by financing from A-share capital markets and financial investors.
Privately owned enterprises, for the first time, exceeded State-owned enterprises in terms of deal values. Private companies accounted for two-thirds of the top 20 largest deals, the report said.
While financial buyers' overall deal volume increased modestly, there was a sharp increase in their purchases of overseas assets. At $16 billion, outbound deals made up nearly 20 percent of all Chinese financial buyer activity - by far the highest proportion yet seen.
More than one-third of the 20 largest deals involved either a tech buyer or target.
"The dramatic growth in outbound deals was partly due to the rise of alternative financial investors," said George Lu, PwC China transaction services partner. "These include the investment arms of large corporates, insurance companies and State-backed funds of various types."
