China smashes quarterly M&A record

Chinese companies are already closing in on last year’s record for overseas mergers and acquisitions, aiming to offset a domestic slowdown and gain access to cutting-edge technology and prominent brands, reports the Nikkei Asian Review. Chinese businesses spent $101.1 billion on deals for foreign companies between January and March alone, a record for the quarter. This figure, which accounted for roughly 20% of the global total, is close to last year’s full-year tally of $109.5 billion. And the number of cross-border M&A deals by Chinese buyers exceeded the number of deals by foreign companies in China for the first time in the second half of 2015.