China: New outbound M&A wave ushers in new economic influence

Fifteen years after China launched a new “Go Out” policy to encourage state-owned firms to acquire oversees firms, reports say a new generation of private companies acquirers has emerged as China looks to increase business owners’ influence in the economy.

The “Go Out” policy was part of China’s way of handling an explosion of export demand; reports say the government facilitated state-owned firms’ acquisitions of foreign mining and energy companies to support that demand.

Now, China is less dependent on export assets. It’s lead to a boost in merger activity among the nation’s private company owners.

According to Citigroup head of global banking for China, Eugene Qian, “we are going to see the second wave of China’s outbound M&A.”

Among members of the trend include Alibaba, which recently set up operations in the US and is exploring potential US acquisitions, as well as top computer maker Lenovo, which inked more than $5 billion worth of deals in January alone.

Full Content: Bloomberg

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