China has witnessed a surge in the total transaction volume of its overseas mergers from $9.6 billion in 2005 to last year's $63.7 billion, but the average value per deal is on the decline, KPMG Global China said Friday.

The global market advisory firm attributed the declining trend mainly to the increasing participation of small and medium-sized private companies.

Most of China's outbound investments in the period went to resource projects, while recently overseas manufacturing and construction have drawn increasing focus, according to KPMG's report on the globalization of Chinese companies released Friday at a press event in Macao.

Currently governments around the world expect to develop their infrastructure by relying mainly on overseas or private capital, which will provide a great opportunity for Chinese contractors, said James Stewart, chairman of global infrastructure practice with KPMG.

"Chinese companies should have an advantage … because they have … lots of financial capacity" and easy access to Chinese or international financial institutions, said Stewart, noting that foreign peers are struggling with insufficient financial capacities.

The annual growth rate of China's outbound investment flow will average more than 20 percent over the next five years, with the total amount surpassing $200 billion by 2017, said Liao Qun, chief economist with China CITIC Bank in Hong Kong, as quoted by the Xinhua News Agency Thursday.

But Chinese companies should clearly define their investment targets and prepare comprehensive plans for different cultural and legal systems, otherwise the investments will have a hard time running smoothly, Diao Chunhe, chairman of the China International Contractors Association, told the press in Macao.

Increasing amounts of Chinese capital have been flowing to the European and North American markets in recent years, with compound annual growth rates of 111.2 and 89.6 percent, respectively, from 2008 to 2011.