Chinese companies plan to step up Europe investment

Thursday's report by the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China comes as Europe courts Chinese investment in hopes of generating new jobs and shedding its economic malaise.

Chinese investment abroad rose to US$77 billion in the first 11 months of last year, up 26 percent from a year earlier, according to China's Commerce Ministry. In the United States, a handful of acquisitions have been blocked on security grounds, which investment consultants say has made Chinese companies more wary about investing there.

One in three Chinese companies surveyed see Europe as “more open” than the United States, the EU Chamber said. It said Europe is seen as having “little history of opposition” to Chinese investment on security grounds.

Chinese companies are “quite happy” with the regulatory framework, said the chamber's president, Davide Cucino, at a news conference.

The exception, Cucino said, is Chinese companies in telecommunications and information technology, which complained about the difficulty of winning approval for investment in Europe.

Chinese leaders are encouraging companies to invest abroad to diversify the world's second-largest economy from reliance on exports and investment to drive growth.

Most governments welcome small but growing Chinese investment. Most deals abroad go through with little trouble. But companies from China's state-dominated economy carry unusual political baggage that has stymied transactions in sensitive areas such as energy and telecommunications.

In Europe, companies have made a series of high-profile investments, including the 3.3 billion euro acquisition of Portuguese power utilities.

The EU Chamber survey was based on responses by 74 companies, all of which already have operations in Europe and two-thirds of which have at least 10,000 employees.

It included no financial details, reflecting the relative secretiveness of China's government and companies.

SHARE CLOSE
Blogger		Google+
Live Journal		Plurk
Stumble Upon

Tweet

	PREVIOUS ARTICLE
	House price increases pick up pace in mainland China

NEXT ARTICLE
Japan industrial production up 2.5 percent in December

Write a Comment

Terms

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

 Receive China Post promos
 Respond to this email

Submit