Overseas Investments Soar

(WU WEI)

Chinese companies are looking to expand their footprints beyond China's borders.

China's outbound direct investment (ODI) in non-financial sectors reached $47.56 billion in the first 11 months of this year, covering 122 countries and regions all over the world, said the Ministry of Commerce. The investment mainly flew to Hong Kong, Australia, Sweden, the United States, Canada, Russia and Brazil. The most coveted area was mining, followed by manufacturing, transportation and the services sector.

From January to September, Chinese enterprises were responsible for 38 overseas merger and acquisition deals, equal to 2009's total, say data from the Beijing-based Zero2IPO Research Center.

Private enterprises are also quickly stepping up their games as well. Zhejiang-based Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd. closed a deal in August to purchase Volvo Car Corp. from Ford Motor Co. This was the biggest overseas acquisition in China's auto industry.

Recently, China National Offshore Oil Co. Ltd. teamed up with Argentina-based Bridas Energy Holdings to pay around $7.06 billion for a 60-percent equity interest in Pan American Energy (PAE) from British Petroleum Plc.