China's outbound mergers and acquisitions (M&A) more than doubled year on year in the first quarter of 2021, and are likely to rise further over the rest of the year, according to a report from Fitch Ratings.

 

Chinese investors will continue seeking overseas M&A as they have seen recovering corporate earnings and strong investment demand, the report said.

 

In the January-March period, China's outbound M&A value scaled up to 17.2 billion U.S. dollars, up 136 percent year on year, the data shows.

 

The massive increase was driven by several deals in the consumer, technology, logistics, and media and telecom sectors in Europe and Asia.

 

Fitch expects the country's outbound M&A to increase steadily in 2021 as foreign investment regulations in some countries may loosen to revive economic growth after the pandemic.