FOR students of geopolitics, the visit by Xi Jinping, China’s president, to Berlin was a highlight of the week. Students of economics may have been more taken with Mr Xi’s stop in the industrial western state of North-Rhine Westphalia (NRW), to toasts, cheers and favourable press coverage. His visit points up a rising trend: Chinese purchases of Germany’s prized, medium-sized and high-tech Mittelstand companies.A study published in January by EY, a firm of consultants, found that companies from China or Hong Kong had bought 25 German firms in 2013, thrice the rate of just a few years earlier. Only Britain was as popular, but if the trend continues German companies will soon stand alone in Chinese estimation. After America, China is the biggest non-European investor in Germany. Another study, by Prognos, a research firm, expects Chinese investment there to quadruple between 2011 and 2020, to $2 billion.Unlike Chinese purchases in America, the shopping spree in Germany causes little alarm. Germans are proud that “Made in Germany” is a mark of quality not only for products but also for companies. Their economics ministry believes that the country has over 1,300 “hidden champions”, world leaders in specialised products, more by far than anywhere else. China’s purchases have included Putzmeister, a Swabian maker of concrete pumps, and Kiekert, from NRW,...
from The Economist: Business http://ift.tt/1hEER86
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