China's 2013 M&A value hits record high

BEIJING - The total value of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in China reached a record high of 260 billion US dollars last year, a PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) report showed on Wednesday.

Although M&A deals in China dipped to a new low in the first half of 2013, strong growth in the latter half helped sustain the robust momentum of the previous years, according to PwC.

Last year, there were 43 deals with a transaction value above one billion US dollars, with this number far exceeding the 30 cases seen a year earlier, the report said.

It noted that M&As among China's state-owned enterprises were mostly concentrated in energy, resources and industrial areas, while investments by privately owned enterprises were more diversified.

"We forecast the strong momentum can be sustained, supported by China's accelerating market reforms... government policy support, as well as a gradually recovering capital market," said PwC partner Hu Lan.

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