China's net overseas investment hit US$21.16 billion in 2006,
with an annual average growth rate of 60 percent over the past five
years, according to a newly issued government statistical
gazette.
The gazette quoted an expert from the National Bureau of
Statistics as saying that overseas investment by Chinese
enterprises has developed from setting up offices and opening
"window" branches only to building factories, purchasing and
acquisition, equity swapping, listing on overseas stock markets,
establishing strategic cooperation and other patterns.
A prominent feature of overseas investment is the increasing
cases of purchasing and acquisition, which accounted for some 40
percent of total overseas investment in 2006.
Major acquiring cases include the acquisition of South African
mines and British mining companies by China's Zijin Kuangye;
Lenovo's acquisition of IBM's PC business; CITIC Group's
acquisition of Kazakhstan oil fields; China Mobile's acquisition of
Pakistan Telecommunications Company, among others.
Feng He, a researcher with the Chinese Ministry of Commerce,
said that major reasons behind these overseas acquisitions are that
domestic enterprises want to seek more developing room overseas;
the state loosened its control on overseas investment; and some
large enterprises see overseas mergers and acquisition as the best
way to become internationalized.
Vice Minister of Commerce Wei Jianguo said that China will
actively explore international acquisition and other investment
patterns to acquire famous brands, advanced management experiences
and marketing network, and will gradually foster its own
international giant companies.
Assistant Minister of Commerce Chen Jian urged Chinese companies
to increase their sense of social responsibility and actively
redound upon the local society; actively develop localization and
increase local employment; make efforts to cultivate talents to
meet the needs of international development; and establish a risk
control mechanism.
(Xinhua News Agency October 2, 2007)
