Chinese investment in Australia growing and diversifying, report says

Chinese investment in Australia has returned to positive growth, rising very strongly with a record number of deals taking Chinese investors into new industries - including healthcare for the first time - and new geographies, a report said on Monday.

Investment into commercial real estate has made up for the drop in investment in the mining sector. The return of the mega deal, with seven investments of 500 million Australian dollars or more during the year, helped propel the total value of investment to $11.1 billion (AUD15.09 billion), a 32.9 percent increase on the previous year.

This was the second highest inflow year for new Chinese investment into Australia, behind the previous peak driven by mining sector investment in 2008. On an international stage, Australia maintained its position as the second-largest recipient of aggregated Chinese direct investment between 2005 and 2015, behind the United States, attracting a cumulative $78.7 billion during the period.

In Australia, commercial real estate remained dominant for the second year in a row, accounting for 45 percent of the total deal volume. There was also significant investment into renewable energy and health, and long-awaited growth in agriculture and agribusiness investment. Chinese investors also moved into new geographies, with the Northern Territory receiving over AUD565 million of investment for the first time.

These are among the key findings of the latest Demystifying Chinese Investment in Australia report by KPMG Australia and The University of Sydney, analyzing Chinese outbound direct investment into Australia in 2015. This year's report also includes new research analyzing the sentiments and attitudes of Chinese investors towards the Australian market.

"Following two years of moderately declining Chinese investment, the resurgence of interest and the diversification by Chinese companies in 2015 is a strong endorsement of the attractiveness of Australia's economy. Alongside continued interest in the NSW and Victorian commercial real estate sectors, there has been activity and major deals in renewables, agribusiness, and for the first time, healthcare," said report co-author, Doug Ferguson, Head of KPMG Australia's Asia and International Markets.

"Overall we are seeing a strong story of Chinese investment into Australia's broader economy which is in line with premium products, services and lifestyle-oriented themes," he said.