The outbound pace of Chinese companies slowed down last year, with total value of their overseas mergers and acquisitions contracting 23 percent year-on-year to reach 738 billion yuan ($110 billion) in 2018, according to the Hurun China Cross-border M&A Report released on Wednesday.

The report was jointly released by Shanghai-based Hurun Research Institute and the cross-border investment specialist DealGlobe. It is the third year in a row the two have made the report.

A total of 323 overseas M&A cases were registered last year, while the number was 400 in 2017. The value of the 50 largest M&As decreased 30 percent year-on-year to 560 billion yuan, a 53 percent drp[ from 2016.

The largest M&A case came from China Three Gorges Corporation, which spent 180 billion yuan to acquire a 100 percent stake in the Portuguese power company Energias de Portugal.

Privately-owned enterprises were the most active regarding outbound investment. Among the top 50 M&A cases, 72 percent were conducted by privately-owned companies, with transaction value taking up 53 percent of the total registrants last year, according to the report.

Energy and mining were the focus of Chinese companies' overseas investment last year. Seven of the top 50 M&A cases targeted overseas energy companies, while another six eyed mining. High-tech industries, internet and e-commerce, computer science, radio and biological science were also of great interest to Chinese companies.

During the first quarter of this year, Chinese companies' overseas investment dropped 25 percent year-on-year, coming in at 566 billion yuan. Energy, mining and public utilities remained hotly pursued targets.

Rupert Hoogewerf, founder and chief researcher at Hurun, said the slowdown and the trade spat between China and the United States have held up some Chinese companies' outbound investment. However, overseas M&A has been slowing down since a peak in 2016. The market has come to a normal speed at present, he said.

But Feng Lin, founder and chief executive officer of DealGlobe, said Chinese companies' strategic mapping in overseas markets will remain active in the next few years with the deepening of supply-side reform, ongoing industrial upgrades and the Belt and Road Initiative.