MarketWatch reports, U.S. companies are steadily losing interest in buying up their Chinese counterparts.
According to Dealogic data, U.S. mergers and acquisitions volume abroad has been up 47% since early 2014. However, American purchases of Chinese companies seem to have fallen off a cliff, dropping to just $611 million in H1 2014, down from $2.3 billion at the same period a year ago, thus marking the lowest level in 12 years.
The problem partially involves a lack of big ($500 million or more) deals in 2014. The Dealogic report showed no transactions of that size so far this year, while in H1 last year, there were two hefty deals worth a combined $1.3 billion.
The number of deals for acquiring Chinese pharmaceutical firms plunged from last year — $30 million year-to-date compared to $1.1 billion at the same period in 2013.
The drop-off in mergers activity takes place not only in the U.S. It appears to be part of a global trend. Thus, the overall volume of deals for purchasing Chinese assets plummeted 10% as compared to last year.
