Another new characteristic of the recent M&A wave is cautiousness.

Because of the gloomy economic situation, international companies have to be prudent.

Sandvik's Nyren said that the group will not do any big M&A deals in China in the next few years.

"Big deals are too risky," he said, referring to both the capital burden, and the time and strength consumed on cultural integration.

From 2000 to 2011, the group did about 40 acquisition deals in 20 nations and regions.

Diageo said that any M&A is a long-term decision, which should go through long-term planning, negotiation and discussion.

"We are looking for brands with a good reputation and a mature distribution network, so it's not an overnight decision. It's very complicated, we must be prudent and cautious," said the source at the company.

Unlike the last M&A round, many acquired Chinese businesses are now companies with good business records, and they are planning to enter the international market via the resources of the multinationals.

"We recognize there is a tremendous opportunity to accelerate our global vision by building on Medtronic's size, scale and expertise as part of this combined organization," Kanghui's Yang said.

He added that Kanghui hopes to leverage the platform of Medtronic to go global - first to developing nations in Southeast Asia and Latin America, then to mature economics, including the US and Europe.

Diageo is now also promoting the Swellfun brand globally. The Chinese liquor brand is now available in 42 duty free shops in international airports, seven international airlines and 11 overseas markets, including the UK. Overseas sales of Swellfun reached 250 tons last year, and Diageo expects the figure to rise to 1,000 to 2,000 tons over the next five to 10 years.

Risk prevention

"M&A is costly. Capital is one thing, the others include business strategy synergy, cultural integration and bilateral reconciliation in many aspects," said Bruce Liu, a partner at Roland Berger Strategy Consultants.

Omron said that besides a careful pre-investigation, the negotiation period should be shortened to increase efficiency under the prerequisites of risk prevention and procedure accuracy.

"Previously, many multinational companies purchased local players with poor performance. But they now prefer to buy businesses with strong technological backgrounds or even leaders of the industry," said Liu.

Contact the writers at liujie@chinadaily.com.cn

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