Mainland firms invest $20.5b overseas in 3Q

Mainland firms ramped up their overseas investments in the third quarter, increasing their outbound investments 190.4% year-on-year to US$20.47 billion, the South China Morning Post reported, citing the Ministry of Commerce (MofCom). According to MofCom, Chinese outbound investment has reached US$32.87 billion this year, and attributed much of the growth to government incentives. State-owned enterprises (SOEs) led the investment charge abroad, acquiring stakes in natural resource and manufacturing companies in 112 countries over the last nine months. The ministry said 43% of the total investments were for controlling stakes. The statistics exclude financial sector acquisitions. One of the largest deals in the third quarter was Yanzhou Coal Mining’s US$2.9 billion acquisition of Australia’s Felix Resources, which was approved by the Australian government last week.