China tech firms ramp up deals with blessing of Beijing

After a chastening crackdown that wiped billions off their value and forced top executives out of the public eye, China's technology giants are back in favour and on the move, making deals and snapping up assets.

- PEI LI MANUEL BAIGORRI DONG CAO

At the top of the pile are Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and Tencent Holdings Ltd, two huge players that used to compete for acquisitions in everything from ride hailing and video streaming to online finance, until their wings were clipped by Chinese authorities concerned about their wide and powerful reach.

Nowadays, with China's economy struggling to pick up much growth momentum and tensions with the US and others rumbling on, the government’s stance has shifted, especially with regard to key areas such as artificial intelligence and tech more broadly, where it’s trying to stride ahead of rivals.

“We're seeing more normalisation when it comes to regulation of tech in China, which gives confidence to both companies and investors to start looking at deals again,” said Allan Chu, UBS Group AG's co-head of technology, media and telecommunications investment banking in the Asia Pacific region.

“China wants to create national champions in areas such as AI and robotics, so we're poised to see more deals in those areas.”

TIME FOR DEALS

Tencent’s music platform agreed to buy podcasting startup Ximalaya Inc this month, a step forward in its bid to be China's Spotify. That followed a Tencent subsidiary snapping up a nearly 10% stake in SM Entertainment Co, a rare Chinese investment in a South Korean company in recent years.