Forget energy. Technology now tops Chinese companies’ overseas shopping lists
The trend largely reflects the foreign shopping sprees of tech giants Alibaba and Tencent, says report from Hurun Research and DealGlobe
They used to go hunting for energy assets. Now it seems technology is top of the overseas shopping list of China’s biggest and most acquisitive firms.
It has replaced energy as the most sought-after sector for the biggest 100 outbound mergers and acquisitions by Chinese companies in 2017, mainly reflecting the overseas shopping sprees of Alibaba Group and Tencent Holdings, a report said on Thursday.
The two technology giants and their affiliates became the most active buyers, each making seven of the 100 biggest transactions last year, according to the joint report from Hurun Research and DealGlobe.
Tencent and its affiliates spent 38 billion yuan (US$6 billion) last year to acquire overseas assets, followed by Alibaba and its associated units which made transactions valued at 23 billion yuan, according to the report.
The two companies combined accounted for 7 per cent by value of the 100 biggest deals last year.
Last year, 25 of the 100 top deals were in the technology sector, up from 12 a year ago. The energy and resources, finance and property sectors saw less deals in the period than in previous years.