China's direct investment overseas hit a new high of 12.26 billion U.S. dollars in 2005, exceeding 10 billion dollars for the first time, the Ministry of Commerce said Monday.

The figure, which excludes investment in the financial sector, rose 123 percent over that of 2004, the ministry said in a statistical bulletin on China's overseas investment in 2005.

Out of the number, 3.8 billion dollars came from capital stocks, 3.2 billion from reinvested profits and the remaining 5.26 billion dollars were invested through other forms.

By the end of 2005, China's aggregated direct overseas investment reached 57.2 billion U.S. dollars, representing 0.59 percent of the world's total overseas investment.

Mergers and acquisitions accounted for half of China's overseas direct investment in 2005. Forty-three percent of the investment were in the form of lending to overseas businesses. Eighty-one percent of the investment in 2005 went to Cayman Island, Hong Kong and other tax havens. Latin America overtook Asia as the No. 1 destination for Chinese investment in 2005.

Asia and Latin America together account for 90 percent of China's aggregated overseas investment.

The bulletin said that limited-liability companies have overtaken state-owned enterprises to become China's largest investor in overseas market with their aggregated investment representing 32 percent, up four percentage points from 2004. The investment by state-owned enterprises accounted for 29 percent, down six percentage points from a year ago.

About seven percent of the companies investing abroad are large state-owned companies directly under the administration of Central Government and their subsidiaries.

East China's Zhejiang Province finds 949 local companies having invested abroad, representing 23.6 percent of the total, the highest among all Chinese provinces and municipalities. In addition, nearly 70 percent of privately-owned companies were situated in Zhejiang and Fujian.

The Ministry cited a survey by the National Statistics Bureau of 6,426 mainland companies investing abroad, saying that Chinese companies have expanded their presence to 163 countries and regions.

With nearly 16.5 percent of the companies polled investing in Hong Kong, the special administrative region of China is viewed as the most popular investment destination. The United States and Russia follow with 10.3 percent and 5.8 percent.

The report also revealed that 34.7 percent of companies investing abroad are engaged in manufacturing. Wholesale and retailing companies took up 17.5 percent with those specialized in lease and commercial services accounting for 17.5 percent. Companies active in the construction industry represented 7.6 percent.

Editor: Yan