Funds raised in the Chinese market and China Private equity and Venture Capital-led M&A deal value set a new record in 2016, according to a recent report by PwC.

Driven by a substantial increasing amount of RMB fund-raising, US$72.51 billion was raised by China PE and VC in 2016, creating a new historical record – a 49% growth over 2015, while the scale of global PE and VC fund raising fell to US$336 billion in 2016 from US$347 billion in 2015

The RMB fund valued at US$54.89 billion showed a 177% growth over the last year. From 2012 to 2015, the ratio of non RMB funds and RMB funds generally remained stable. Nonetheless, the portion of RMB funds surged from 40% to 76% in 2016, according to PwC.

As global trading value fell 38%, total China PE and VC-led M&A deal value continued growing steadily to reach US$223 billion, accounting for 73% of global PE/VC deal values in 2016.

PE M&A deals set a new record in 2016 by increasing 66% to US$222.9 billion. Venture capitalists has increased dramatically from 2012 to 2016. Today, VCs are six times more active in the Chinese market than they were four to five years ago, according to the report.

In terms of deal volume, high technology is still PE funds’ most favoured sector in 2016, followed by industry. In terms of deal value, PE investment in real estate driven by BAM and outbound M&A nearly doubled in 2016. In addition, the consumer sector set a new record. High-tech M&A activity remained brisk, but show signs of slowing down when compared to 2015.

The backlog of projects awaiting exit continue to face challenges. Although IPO exits reached a new height with 165 deals, a 38.7% increase from last year, M&A exit deals fell unexpectedly to the lowest level in four years.