SHANGHAI, Aug. 10 -- China's overseas mergers and acquisitions hit record 134 billion U.S. dollars in H1, international accounting firm PwC said on Wednesday.

The figure was nearly three times last year's and exceeded the combined value of overseas M&As by Chinese firms during the past two years, PwC said in a report.

Twenty four deals exceeded 1 billion U.S. dollars each, with ChemChina's 43 billion U.S. dollar takeover of Swiss agrochemical and seeds company Syngenta being the biggest.

Privately-owned firms contributed to two thirds of the 20 largest overseas M&As, said Liu Yanlai, private equity leader with the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong at PwC.

The record came with a rise in financial investors, including the investment departments of big companies, insurance firms and government funds, it said.