The role of China in global mergers and acquisitions in the mining sector has been overstated as per a new report. A PricewaterhouseCoopers report by Tim Goldsmith said that the US and Canada were far ahead of China when it came to global mergers and acquisitions in the mining sector.
Tim Goldsmith said that Chinese entities have been acquisitive in the mining sector, yes, but the overwhelming majority of equity acquisitions have involved small projects within China and its surrounding regions. He added that the mergers and acquisitions by the Chinese entities has not contributed to China amassing defacto control of the world’s resources.
In 2010 just 6% of global mining deals were conducted with Chinese acquirers. While in the same period 36% of the deal volume was attributed to Canadians and the US and Australian acquires added up to 16% each of the total deal volume.The two global mining giants Rio Tinto and Xstrata have made more acquisitions in the last ten years than all the Chinese buyers put together.
However the number of acquisitions attributed to Asians has jumped up to 21 % of the deal volume from 10% in the last decade. The escalating costs of many commodities in the last few years have contributed to the increase in number of acquisitions in the last year. Plus the report found that deals in the current year had got off to a flying start with a number of acquisitions taking place in the first two months of 2011 alone.