China's track record in M&A

China’s companies are expanding the focus of their outbound M&A, but so far they have struggled to create value.

Chinese companies have been slower to expand abroad than many in the global business community had expected, but some evidence suggests that the long-awaited expansion is now under way: in the first quarter of 2008, they announced foreign direct investments of almost $26 billion (182 billion renminbi)—nearly twice as much as during the same period last year.