China is likely to attract more merger and acquisition interest in clean energy this year, Bloomberg News reported Thursday citing a KPMG LLP survey.

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Of 500 global executives, investors, lenders and advisers from renewable-energy industry surveyed by KPMG, 38 percent said the China would be the top target for deals this year, and made the country rose to second place from fifth place in last year's survey. The US topped the survey with 53 percent. India, Germany and the United Kingdom followed.

Double the number of Asian respondents intend to invest in China and India than those planning to invest in Europe, the survey showed.

Deals are expected to outpace previous years as more financing options, rising oil prices and Japan's nuclear crisis shifts interest to the renewable energy industry, according to KPMG. Mergers and acquisitions doubled in the first quarter to a record $11.2 billion from a year earlier, said KPMG in an e-mailed report to Bloomberg News.

Transactions valued at up to $500 million may generate the most interest with biomass and solar power likely to be the most attractive buyout targets, the consultant's report said.