ECLAC published a list of the Chinese companies that invested the most in mergers and acquisitions in Latin America and the Caribbean between 2005 and 2020.

Above all, the State Grid Corporation of China invested 14.919 million dollars.

Then there are: China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec, $ 14.735 million), China Minmetals Corporation ($ 7.005 million) and China Three Gorges Corporation ($ 5.260 million).

Other companies highlighted in this indicator were: Tianqi Lithium Corpb, China Yangtze Power Co., Sinochem Group Co. Ltd, CITIC Group Corp, China National Petroleum Corporation and State Power Investment Corporation Ltd.

In addition to state control, another aspect that characterizes the Chinese companies that have invested the most in the region is that they are large.

For example, in 2019, the two companies that had the greatest weight in M&A in the region were among the three largest in the world in terms of sales revenue: they were the electricity utility State Grid. Corporation of China, which employed about 908,000 people, and the Sinopec hydrocarbon company, which employed about 583,000 people.

Chinese companies

Among the 10 companies that have had the most participation in mergers and acquisitions in the region, the only non-state company is the lithium producer Tianqui Lithium Corp, which is also small compared to the others, ECLAC said.

That company, which received revenues of about $ 700 million in 2019, only has assets in Australia and Chile, in addition to China.

Along with energy and mining companies, among the top ten is the state conglomerate CITIC Group Corp, which invests abroad in real estate and finance, energy and natural resources, manufacturing, engineering and construction, among others.

In the region, this conglomerate invested in hydrocarbons, mining and agrochemicals.