Chinese companies' merger and acquisition (M&A) activities in the Belt and Road region have grown rapidly in the past three years, a new report indicates.

China's M&A transaction volume in the region grew from 2.264 billion US dollars in 2014 to 9.755 billion US dollars in 2016, overtaking the United States and Japan to be the top acquirer in 2016, according to a report released by Thomson Reuters, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) and a research institution under Tsinghua University.

Globally speaking, the finance, energy and telecom service sectors are the top three sectors attracting M&A activities in the B&R region.

The energy, power and raw material sectors were the most popular targets among Chinese buyers.

Kazakhstan, Russia, Israel, Singapore and Egypt were the top M&A destinations for Chinese companies. The total value of M&As in Kazakhstan by Chinese companies from 2000 to 2016 totaled 9.3 billion US dollars, accounting for 20.9 percent of the total value during the period.

"Since the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative, the scale of mergers and acquisitions in the Belt and Road economies by Chinese companies has increased significantly and will continue to grow rapidly in the future," said Zhang Ming, a senior fellow of the CASS and a principal author of the report.

Zhang added that the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in early May indicated that cooperation between China and other Belt and Road economies would be further strengthened. But Chinese enterprises looking to invest in B&R economies should be aware of certain risks and challenges.

(Source: Xinhua)