Privately owned Chinese enterprises have been increasingly active in outbound mergers and acquisitions.

The value of private enterprises' outbound M&A exceeded that of State-owned enterprises for the first time last year, according to a recent report.

Private enterprises' outbound M&A volume in 2016 was about three times that of the previous year. Its value was $116.3 billion, which was almost double that of SOEs, said the report by consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.