Over a quarter of a billion dollars are worth the shares that Chinese companies have in nearly 700 companies in Europe. Half of the companies are taken over. They include 4 seaports, 6 airports, wind farms and 13 football teams in 9 countries. Most in the UK, but investors from the Middle Kingdom are also active in Poland. Chinese assets on the Vistula have been valued at over 700 million dollars and may come.
According to specialists, the most Chinese city in Europe is London, where companies from this country have invested in many real estate, mainly office buildings, as well as in Heathrow airport, where they have a minority share.
Throughout the United Kingdom, the value of Chinese investors’ shares in over 200 enterprises exceeds USD 70 billion.
The broadly understood energy sector is very popular – a lot of investments are related to the extraction of oil and gas from the North Sea, as well as wind farms. However, China also has shares in solar power plants and even the Hinkley Point nuclear power plant. Chinese funds also went to 7 football clubs.
Also, over 200 companies have Chinese shareholders in Germany, but there the value of these shares is already 20 billion dollars. In terms of value, the second is Switzerland, where the Chinese buy less (54 transactions), but more expensive (the total value exceeds 66.7 billion dollars). Over two-thirds of this value is the acquisition of Syngenta, a pesticide producing company.
An important area of โโinvestment is also Italy, in which over USD 31 billion was invested in shares of 85 companies. The largest transaction was the acquisition of a Pirelli tire manufacturer for over 7 billion dollars. A curiosity may be interest in Milan, where the Chinese took over, among others both well-known football clubs – AC Milan and Inter.
In Poland, according to data, there are 12 companies with Chinese shares with a total value of USD 730 million. The largest transaction was the takeover of wind farms from EDF for $ 398 million. The Chinese also bought Smithfield Foods, taking over Animex, which owns the well-known brands of Krakus and Morliny cold cuts in its portfolio.
The first big investment of a Chinese company in Poland was the takeover of the civilian part of Huta Stalowa Wola by the Liugong company producing machines.
According to specialists, only in 2016 foreign direct Chinese investments in Poland amounted to USD 563 million, and our country was the largest recipient of Chinese investments among the Visegrad Group countries and the eighth in the European Union.
