Machinery makers eye German takeovers
Mainland firms seek to gain technological edge with acquisitions in hard-hit EU member
Chinese machinery companies are increasingly seeking to acquire German machinery firms, but face challenges, analysts say.
"I expect a slow but steady growth of Chinese acquisitions in Germany," said Bernd Uwe Stucken, a partner at Pinsent Masons, an international law firm.
Ivo Naumann, managing director of AlixPartners, a US consultancy, said: "Chinese players show an increasing appetite for leading machinery technology and have already acquired several German machinery companies."
Because of the euro-zone debt crisis, many German firms are facing difficulties, while revenues enjoyed by machinery makers in China have grown by some 29 per cent a year between 2006 and 2011, Naumann said.
"China's machinery industry has posted tremendous growth in recent years, while German machinery companies only came back to pre-crisis levels in 2012," he said.
Germany's machinery revenue is expected to have grown 1.7 per cent to €234 billion (HK$2.37 trillion) last year, below its level of €242 billion in 2008, when the global financial crisis struck, according to AlixPartners. China's machinery revenue is projected to have risen 12 per cent to 631 billion yuan (HK$784.4 billion).