M&A activity surpasses US$46.6 billion

Mergers and acquisitions generated US$46.6 billion in 2005, a 34% rise on 2004, the South China Morning Post reported. However, PricewaterhouseCoopers noted this figure was dominated by a number of large deals, such as foreign investments in China's Big Four banks, and argued that 2006 would see M&A activity enter a mature phase. New measures allowing foreign investors to make strategic acquisitions in newly listed A-share companies or companies that have gone through the shareholding reform program are seen as being the key trigger for this development.