This article is part one of a three-part series featuring the top four African countries for mergers and acquisitions.

Despite numerous incidences of public unrest and power shortages, South Africa remains the most attractive country in Africa when it comes to mergers and acquisitions, followed by Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya – in that order.

This is according to the latest report by Mergermarket – a U.K.-based media and research company – that tracked the number of deals completed in South Africa in 2013.

South African deals made in 2013 were valued at $8.1 billion, which was accrued from a total of 105 deals.

Despite closing at top position, these represent a drop of about 28 percent from 2012, when $11.1 billion was accrued from a total of 97 deals.

South Africa, which has been in the spotlight following deadly strikes by mine workers, saw deals in its energy, mining and utilities sector drop 67 percent in 2013 compared to 2012.

Mining, which is the backbone of the country’s economy, had only 16 completed deals in 2013, from which $1.8 billion exchanged accounts.

“As Africa’s most developed economy, investors will remain attracted to South Africa’s well-regulated market,” said Vinjeru Mkandawire with Mergermarket’s London office, in an AFKInsider interview.

Relatively speaking, the dip in value of South African mergers and acquisitions is no surprise, Mkandawire said.

“The lower values are in line with the current global trend and considering the fact that South Africa’s mining sector has taken a big hit,” she said.

One of the top deals in South Africa included CFR Pharmaceuticals offering to buy Adcock Ingram – another pharmaceutical firm – for $1.4 billion in November.

Also in November, Growthpoint Properties Ltd. – a property investment holding company – bought another construction and property holding company, Tiber Property Group, for $644 million.

In August, Jinchuan Group International Resources Co. Ltd., an investment holding company, bought Metorex Ltd., a holding company for several commodity mining firms, for $1.3billion.

AgriGroupe – an agriculture-focused holding company – bought AFGRI Limited, an agri services and industrial food processing company, for $476 million in September.

These were just some of the deals that, for the second year in a row, helped place South Africa as the top investor destination in Africa for mergers and acquisitions.

“South Africa stands out as the region’s most active cross-border acquirer, with the country identified by nearly all interviewees (89 percent) as among the busiest,” according to the Deals Drivers Africa report.

This report corresponds with Thomson Reuters’ Deals Intelligence report which was released earlier in 2013.

The report, which examined investments and banking in Sub-Saharan Africa, determined that by the end of 2012, mergers and acquisitions in Sub-Saharan African increased 18 percent to $25 billion. About half of that amount targeted firms based in South Africa.

South Africa is the is the region’s most developed economy and mergers and acquisitions in other countries are expected to continue as South African companies strive to diversify their revenues away from the country’s rich natural resources.

And, almost expectedly, China is leading the change in South Africa – and Africa in general – when it comes to the country making the most inroads in the continent.

Mergermarket, in its findings, noted that this trend is expected to grow in coming years as Chinese firms increase their deals with African countries involved in the “energy, mining and utilities” sectors.

The reason for this, the report explains, is that Chinese firms are looking to “secure raw materials to satisfy the huge demands of its own industries.”

“It won’t be any coincidence that South Africa, which is blessed with such natural resources, continues to be attractive to investors – from Africa as well as other continents,” Nicholas Kitonyi, a financial writer with Seeking Alpha, told AFK Insider. Seeking Alpha is an American stock market analysis website founded in 2004.

“It should also not be shocking if South Africa retains its top position in next year’s report by Mergermarket or any other firm that tracks mergers and acquisitions happening in the late Nelson Mandela’s country.”