Acquisitions of Australian targets hit record

Chinese acquisitions of Australian targets have hit a record $8.5 billion so far in 2013, almost triple the $2.9 billion achieved in the same period last year, a report by financial services provider Dealogic showed on Wednesday.

Two bids in particular stand out. One from State Grid Corp of China for a 60 percent stake in SPI (Australia) Assets and for a 19.9 percent stake in SP AusNet for a combined total of $7.5 billion announced in May - the largest deal in the Asia-Pacific region and the largest outbound deal from China this year.

Australia accounts for a record 78 percent of Chinese outbound acquisitions into the Asia-Pacific region in 2013, up from 55 percent in the same period in 2012, the report showed.