M&A activity is taking off fast in China – and Kylla is going to be part of it, helping Chinese investors and ambitious companies who want to accelerate their cross-border business success.
That was the message delivered by Kylla at the 2nd Baishaquan M&A Global Summit, in Hangzhou, China. The goal was to introduce Kylla to the local investor community and businesses from Hangzhou and neighbouring Zhejiang region.
Recent years have seen Chinese companies increasingly set their sights on strategic investments overseas. Zhejiang province is home to many listed companies, including Alibaba, and has already seen several high-quality cross-border mergers and acquisitions. For example, Geely Automobile (Geely Holding Group) acquired Volvo Cars and holds a stake in Daimler AG, the parent company of Mercedes-Benz, and Joyson Electronic Corporation acquired Japanese air-bag maker Takada.
In 2018, 231 listed companies in Zhejiang announced 441 domestic Chinese mergers and acquisitions, worth RMB 166.334 billion (EUR 21.643 billion). That represented an increase of 30.56% (number of listed companies) and 46% (number of mergers) compared to 2017.
In terms of cross-border mergers and acquisitions, 34 listed companies announced 43 cross-border mergers and acquisitions worth RMB 25.383 billion (EUR 3.303 billion), compared to 2017, according to the China M&A Association Zhejiang Branch. This makes the number of cross-border M&A projects in Zhejiang province relatively large, while the acquisition of Japan’s Takada for RMB 10.8 billion (EUR 1.4 billion) has raised the bar for the value of individual transactions.
The United States remains the favourite for cross-border M&A targets, despite current trade tensions with China, but the proportion has fallen from 40% in 2017 to 20% in 2018. The US is followed by Germany, the United Kingdom and Italy.
