The great boom in Chinese investment in Europe appears to have peaked. This is the conclusion of a study by the German institute Merics and the research group Rhodium, which was published today.
According to the survey, Chinese investment in Europe rose again last year by more than a third to 10.6 billion euros compared to the weak previous year 2020. But compared to the years after 2013, the spending of Chinese companies is rising earlier. a little bit. In addition to the Netherlands, Germany, the United Kingdom and France were again the most popular with investors from China, according to the study.
“The nature of Chinese investment in Europe has fundamentally changed in recent years,” explains Agatha Kratz, director at Rhodium Group. For example, according to Kratz, the time of multibillion-dollar takeovers in strategic sectors may be over. Instead, Chinese companies are more likely to build their own factories in Europe, especially in areas where they believe they have competitive advantages, such as e-mobility batteries.
“Compared to the peak period around 2016, Chinese investment has stabilized at a low level,” said Merics chief economist Max Zenglein. Europe remains interesting for Chinese companies, but Zenglein does not expect Chinese investment to increase significantly in the near future given the current difficult economic and regulatory environment.
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