Every year Forbes magazine publishes the largest companies in the world. These firms are selected based on many factors including revenues.

From the 2015 report:

The FORBES Global 2000 is a comprehensive list of the world’s largest, most powerful public companies, as measured by revenues, profits, assets and market value. We use a composite score that weighs those four metrics equally, as one barometer alone would present a biased and incomplete account.

The following Chinese firms appeared on the Forbes Global 2000 list for 2015:

Source: Forbes

Some observations:

• China’s biggest banks ICBC (IDCBY), China Construction Bank(CICHY), Agricultural Bank of China(ACGBY) and Bank of China (BACHY)are in the top 10 list. This is indeed surprising since the Forbes ranking is at a global level. This also shows the growing dominance of Chinese banks.
• Oil companies usually tend to huge in most economies. So it is not surprising to see PetroChina(PTR) and Sinopec(SNP) on this list.
• While the US has 579 companies represented in the Global 2000, China and Hong Kong firms account for 232.
• The presence of tech companies such as Baidu(BIDU) shows the growing importance of the technology sector in the Chinese economy.
• Banks play a critical role as China transitions from a manufacturing-based economy to a consumption-based economy. Chinese banks are the major lenders to not only consumers but also companies and regional governments. Hence in addition to the four global banks mentioned above, domestic banks such as Bank of Ningbo, Bank of Nanjing, Bank of Chongqing and Chongqing Rural Bank are large enough to be included in the Global 2000.

Download in Excel format: The 149 Largest and Most Powerful Public Chinese Companies from Forbes Global 2000 for 2015 

Disclosure: No Positions