Driven by the Belt and Road Initiative, Asia became the most popular overseas mergers and acquisitions (M&A) destination for Chinese enterprises last year, a report by the global consulting firm Ernst & Young said.

Chinese firms made M&A deals worth 22.3 billion U.S. dollars in Asia last year, up 19.1 percent year on year, accounting for nearly 30 percent of the total, the report said.

The growth came despite a broader decline in China's overall outbound direct investment, which dropped 9.8 percent year on year, it said.

By deal value, the M&A activities were dominated by the technology, media and telecommunication (TMT), consumer products, and power and utilities sectors, the report showed.

Affected by the novel coronavirus outbreak, the China outbound investment trend would need to be further observed depending on the control of the epidemic situation, said Loletta Chow, global leader of the EY China Overseas Investment Network.

Chow suggested Chinese investors pay attention to sectors that support structural adjustment, transformation and upgrading, such as TMT, health and life sciences as well as advanced manufacturing sectors.