A galloping start in US investments

Among the total of 82 deals last year - 44 acquisitions and 38 green field projects - and six transactions accounted for more than 80 percent of total combined value, according to Rhodium. They were: Shuanghui-Smithfield; CNOOC-Nexen US; Sinpec-Mississippi Lime JV; Fosun-Chase Manhattan Plaza; General Motors Building (40 percent stake acquired by group led by Soho China CEO Zhang Xin); and Sinochem-Wolfcamp Shale.

Brickman said cheap energy costs in the US have "a domino effect throughout the US economy" because not just energy-intensive industries, but all types of industries are considering investing in the US.

Brickman said that it's important for Chinese investors to continue to understand the US market and to work with professionals and services, including the legal and business strategy sides.

Carl A. Valenstein, a Washington-based partner with the law firm Bingham McCutchen LLP, says many opportunities are lined up for Chinese investors particularly in infrastructure, which were detailed in a recent US Chamber of Commerce Report.

Completed deals last year have shown that Chinese investors are becoming "more sophisticated in managing the risks associated with such transactions, which include national security concerns and adverse reactions to Chinese ownership in certain industries", Valenstein said.

Diverse investment

"The largest Chinese US investment transaction to date - the Smithfield acquisition - cleared the CFIUS process notwithstanding substantial opposition," Valenstein said. "Potential limitations on Chinese investment in the US in 2014 may also arise from Chinese laws and regulations, including the Chinese outbound investment approval process and State-imposed conditions on outbound investment," he added.

In the last decade or so, Chinese investments in the US have showed diversity, ranging from textiles to chemicals and automotive components to today's real estate, food and energy sectors. Brickman sees consumer products as a future growth area.

Chinese investors' expanding their investment portfolio means that "they are evaluating opportunities across newer sectors in the US," Brickman said.

Lindsay Conner, a partner and co-chair of entertainment and media practice at Los Angeles-based Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP, says Chinese investment in the US will see strong growth in the media industry.

"Particularly in the entertainment industry, increased investing activity between China and the US has been welcomed on both sides of the Pacific, and I believe this trend will grow stronger each year," Conner said. "Chinese investors who have made US investments have found they received real value, and much less interference from the US government than they may have initially feared."

From big deals like Dalian Wanda's acquisition of AMC Theatres, to smaller deals like Galloping Horse's acquisition of Digital Domain, investments have been completed smoothly and profitably, Conner noted.

"As the tide of cross-border investment grows, people in both China and the US will be more comfortable with those investments, and will understand each other's business culture better and better," he said.

Rhodium predicts that Chinese interest in US assets will remain "strong" this year because economic reforms in China provide a more liberal policy environment for Chinese outbound investors.

The Third Plenum of 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China last November promised to upgrade the market's role from "basic" to "decisive" in economic development. The Third Plenum was the first one since the new leadership led by Chinese President Xi Jinping took over and was seen as setting the tone for economic directions and policies for the world's second-largest economy in the coming years.

"The Third Plenum very much helps this process because the more China reforms domestically and improves its economy, the easier it will be for China to compete internationally as well," said Frank Lavin, a former US undersecretary of Commerce for international trade.