A wider field of investment interest and a deeper understanding of place denotes the new Chinese presence in Western Europe, writes George W Russell
Chinese investment has a new face. Often seen as hardheaded managers and rapacious consumers of natural resources, prone to sending Chinese labourers en masse, mainland companies seeking mergers and acquisition targets have diversified into a wider range of industries, and in many cases have adopted a less confrontational approach.
When one Chinese company took over a medium-sized industrial machinery manufacturer in northern Italy recently, it sent in a small team of key managers and engineers who spent time watching and listening to the Italian management and employees. A priority was to extensively sample the local cuisine, to the delight of locals.
Lawyers say they are seeing more of such behaviour as Chinese acquirers take a deeper look into target countries in Western Europe. “We are definitely seeing a very sharply increasing interest in investments into Italy from Chinese companies,” notes Hermes Pazzaglini, a partner who runs the Shanghai office of NCTM Studio Legale Associato, a Milan-based law firm.
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