China's investment deals in Europe first surpassed Europe's in China in the first quarter of 2012, with 32 investments from China's mainland, according to a PwC report.

The report, "China Deals; A fresh perspective," showed there has been a steady rise in the value and volume of mainland Chinese investments in Europe over the last six years .Chinese investments in Europe increased from just 11 deals in 2006 to 61 in 2011.

Chinese state-owned enterprises have led the way in investing in Europe, as noted by the report, and its privately owned businesses are now also looking to expand by acquiring companies overseas and in a range of sectors.

The report also said Chinese companies have generally bought smaller percentage stakes in European businesses but for larger sums of money, whereas European investments tended to invest smaller sums for large stakes, due to different focus in the investment strategies of Chinese and European businesses.

Most valuable deals done by the Chinese in Europe were in the energy, utilities, mining and infrastructure sectors, with 12 of the 20 largest deals since 2006 were in these sectors and seven were worth between one and six billion euros.