However, in an overall comparison of takeovers of German companies by foreign buyers, the Chinese played a subordinate role, according to an analysis by management consultancy EY published on Tuesday. Even Austrians and Canadians bought more German companies than investors from the People’s Republic last year.
According to EY, 155 European companies went into Chinese hands in 2021 for a total of 12.4 billion dollars. That was 23 more takeovers than in 2020, but only half as many as in the boom year 2016.
According to an EY study, Chinese investors bought 35 companies in Germany last year for a good two billion dollars. In 2020 there were 28. This put China in 9th place in the list of foreign company buyers in Germany. US companies were in first place with 284 acquisitions.
According to EY, the total of $2 billion in venture capital investments of $1.9 billion in German start-ups, in which Chinese companies participated as part of international investor groups, is not included.
“Chinese companies overall remain reluctant to invest in Europe,” said Sun Yi, EY’s head of China Business Services in Western Europe. Europe’s largest deal of the year was the sale of the Philips home appliance division in the Netherlands for 4.3 billion dollars to the Chinese finance company Hillhouse Capital Group.
EY publishes an annual study on Chinese company acquisitions in Europe. Even before the pandemic began, takeover activities had slacked – according to consultants, managers and economists due to the political headwind in Europe and stricter controls by the Chinese authorities.
Source: dpa-AFX
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