China’s outbound mergers and acquisitions (M&As) are likely to decline slightly this year, due to the changing global environment, experts said. Chinese companies’ interest in going overseas or acquiring companies outside of China is still very high, but the overall number and value of deals will be reduced, due to Western countries’ changing attitudes toward Chinese investment, said Edward Tse, CEO of Gao Feng Advisory Co, a global strategy and management consultant. “Chinese companies’ overseas investment will certainly be lower than the peak level in 2016, but I don’t think there is going to be a dramatic drop,” he said. Last year, China’s outbound M&A surged by 142% in volume and by 246% in value, to a record USD221 billion, according to a recent report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). A report by the Rhodium Group said the European Union continues to be a favorite destination of Chinese investors, with more than €35 billion of outward direct investment transactions last year, an increase of 77% from 2015. Germany and the United Kingdom accounted for more than half of total incoming Chinese investment last year. The United States was the largest recipient of Chinese ODI last year, with USD45.6 billion in completed acquisitions and greenfield investments.