(Yicai Global) Feb. 25 -- Mergers and acquisitions in China jumped 21 percent last year to an all-time high thanks to the country’s dual circulation economic strategy, industrial upgrade, digital economy, and green development, according to PwC.

Chinese companies were involved in 12,790 M&As in 2021, making up about 20 percent of the global total, London-based auditors PwC said in a report released yesterday.

But the value of deals fell 19 percent to USD637.4 billion from the record set in 2020, when the government and state-owned firms supported a number of big M&As. By value, China’s M&As accounted for 13 percent of worldwide deals.

There were 97 Chinese M&As worth more than USD1 billion in 2021, mostly in the areas of industrial goods, consumer products, and energy, the report said.

Private equity deals became the largest category of M&A by value for the first time, accounting for more than half of the total, PwC said. These deals were mostly in the areas of high-tech, healthcare, and industrial and consumer products. More PE funds were involved in huge deals in e-commerce, logistics, and transitioning from traditional to new energy.

Chinese overseas M&A activity rebounded somewhat, affected by the pandemic and geopolitics, with activity also bouncing back in North America though still sluggish, the report showed.

“This is possibly because M&A deals suspended in 2020 due to Covid-19 restarted negotiations last year,” said Zhuang Shuqing, chief partner in the international tax department of PwC Asia Pacific.

In the year ahead, China M&As will remain at the same level as last year, or possibly slide a little, because of the country’s ongoing economic transformation and “record levels of dry-powder for financial sponsors, and pressure to deploy,” PwC noted.

Editor: Futura Costaglione