China’s M&A Surge 📊 Electric Trucks Go Mainstream ⚡ Maersk Shanghai Mega Hub 🚢

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2025-11-24 | subscribe | homepage

Welcome back to China Insights Weekly. Here are some of the key highlights for this week’s edition:

• Bayer opens Beijing innovation center, backing China-made drugs for global markets

• CICC merger will create a 1-trillion-yuan brokerage, reshaping China’s finance sector

• US emerges as largest recipient of China’s overseas lending, exceeding USD 200 Billion

• China’s 5,000 m² power-generating kite passes key tests, pushing high-altitude wind tech

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🚀 Headlines

China’s outbound investment rebounded in 2025 with overseas M&A growing 70% (link)

In the first three quarters of 2025, China's outbound direct investment (ODI) reached USD 128.9 billion, marking a 3.6% YoY increase. Non-financial ODI amounted to USD 110.7 billion, up 4.0% YoY, with Q3 alone rising 13.8% YoY. Notably, non-financial ODI in Belt and Road partner countries surged 23.7% YoY to USD 30.0 billion, accounting for 27% of the total. Overseas mergers and acquisitions (M&A) totaled USD 29.8 billion, a 70% YoY increase, driven by 16 large deals over USD 500 million—double last year's count. In terms of sector, Technology, Media, and Telecommunications (TMT) and Consumer sectors led by value, while by volume, TMT, Advanced Manufacturing & Transportation remained most active. Regionally, Asia remained the hottest destination, with M&A value up 151% YoY, accounting for over 40% of the total. Europe's M&A value reversed its earlier decline seen in H1 2025, and Latin America was the only region to record growth in both M&A value and volume.

Maersk opens USD 140 million flagship logistics center in Shanghai (link)

Danish shipping giant AP Moller–Maersk has opened a flagship logistics center in Shanghai’s Lingang Special Area, investing over US$140 million. The facility, covering 113,000 square meters with 147,000 square meters of storage space, is designed as a multi-purpose hub offering a full suite of fulfillment and value-added logistics services. The new center will enhance the group’s omnichannel fulfillment capabilities while strengthening connections between China and international markets. The center aims to support customers facing changing trade patterns and help centralize inventory management for both B2B and B2C demand.

Bayer E-Town Open Innovation Center opens in Beijing to connect China's innovations globally (link)

On 15 Nov 2025, Germany’s Bayer opened its E-Town Open Innovation Center in Beijing, marking a key step in its “In China, for Global” strategy. This is Bayer’s first innovation center in China, aiming to incubate local biopharma firms and bring Chinese drugs to global markets. The center will partner with top academic and clinical research institutions to enhance research and drive digital innovation. Bayer Co.Lab, the company’s global life science incubator network, also launched at the site, welcoming two new resident companies: Suzhou Puhe BioPharma and Beijing Youngen Technology. The center’s inauguration coincided with the “China-Europe Science and Technology Innovation Day & 2025 the 4th China-Europe Life Science and Biopharma Innovation Conference,” co-hosted by Bayer and the China Science and Technology Exchange Center.