Over 250 Chinese companies worth in excess of $14 billion have been bought by international acquirers over the past year, with the United States, UK and Singapore leading the way in establishing a foothold in China's rapidly-expanding economy, according to an analysis by Grant Thornton.

In the 12 months to June 30, 2006, a total of 266 international companies (worth $14 billion) from 41 different countries bought a Chinese company. This is almost exactly the same number as the previous 12 months (268), but represents a 52% increase in deal value terms (from $9 billion to US $14 billion). US companies claim a 26.1% market share and completed 62 deals worth a total of $5.36 billion in the period. The UK carried out 6% of deals worth a total of $3.46 billion and Singapore proved strong on both value and number of transactions with $1.8 billion or 11% of activity. Hong Kong was one of the most active acquirers in the period and carried out 19% in deal volume terms.

In terms of deal volumes, the Chinese high technology sector accounted for the highest number of cross-border deal activity (16%). This sector was closely followed by the materials (14%), industrials (13%), financial services and consumer staples sector (both with a 12% market share). However, in terms of the highest value deals, the financial services sector proved to be head and shoulders above the rest with a 71% market share and with almost US$10bn worth of international funds pouring into Chinese financial services companies.