Mainland companies are the biggest buyers in Asia of other companies, according to a survey that found nine out of 10 executives questioned planning to conduct mergers and acquisitions in the next 12 months,
The survey of 258 senior executives in Asia commissioned by legal firm Norton Rose in March showed mainland executives had not been discouraged by disappointing deals such as TCL Multimedia Technology's purchase of TCL Thomson Electronics, a deal that traces its roots back to 2003.
TCL Multimedia reported a loss of US$205 million in the first half of last year due to problems with the European business it obtained in the deal.
'The individual disappointing acquisition cases will not discourage Chinese companies from buying overseas companies. They are just going to be more careful in looking at what they are buying,' Norton Rose partner Richard Crosby said.
The study showed mainland companies were the biggest buyers among Asian firms of counterparts in the west, conducting 23 acquisitions of western companies with a combined value of US$6 billion.
Indian firms ranked second, conducting 126 deals to buy western companies worth US$4.7 billion.