Yuan-denominated merger and acquisition (M&A) deals valued by U.S. firms in China in the first six months of this year increased by 2.3 percent year-on-year, said Gao Feng, a spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), on Thursday. The figure contradicts a 32 percent decline in the period reported by Reuters last week.
Citing its own data, Reuters reported on July 28 that M&A deals involving U.S. participants in China declined 32 percent year-on-year to $523 million in the first half of 2017.
"I am not familiar with the report. But statistics by the MOFCOM showed that the value of U.S. firms' M&A deals in China in yuan-denominated form has continued to rise in recent years, except in 2015 when the value declined on a year-on-year basis," Gao told the Global Times at a press conference on Thursday.
In the first half of this year, U.S. companies' investment in M&A deals in China increased 2.3 percent compared with the same period of last year, Gao said.
China always encourages foreign companies to invest in China via mergers and has further streamlined the supervision process on mergers initiated by foreign firms in recent months, Gao said.
Most U.S. companies recorded good performances in China in 2016. According to a report released by the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Shanghai, about 73.5 percent of its member companies reported revenue growth in 2016, up from 61 percent in 2015, with the retail and services sectors performing particularly well. AmCham has 3,200 registered members.
