Chinese outbound investment: China’s non-financial outbound direct investment (ODI) surged 16.5 % year on year to $87.3bn for the first three quarters of 2015, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said on Thursday. Foreign contracted projects reached $137.6bn between January and September period, up 26.5 % from last year.
The figures corroborate the findings of The fDi Report 2015 recently published by the Financial Times Group which found that China is now the world’s third-largest outward direct investors with the US being the main beneficiary ($9bn) followed by Russia ($7bn), Iran, the UK and Peru ($4bn each).
The five most popular sectors for investment in the US last year were real estate; paper, printing and packaging; chemicals; hotels and tourism; and software and IT services. Two of the major projects backed by Chinese investors in 2014 were Dalia Wanda’s plans for a $1.2bn mixed-use development in Beverly Hills and Shandong Yuang Chemical’s $1.85bn world-scale methanol manufacturing complex in Louisana.
According to the report, the major drivers behind the surge in Chinese FDI has been the search for resources and technology aided by Chinese sovereign wealth funds setting up in key global markets and both making and supporting strategic investments, particularly in M&A.
Chinese outbound investment surges
Dalian Wanda Chairman Wang Jianlin
Source: xinhuanet