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Germany 'an appealing site' for expansion
[Date:04-23-2012] Source: China Daily RSS Feed

As Chinese enterprises seek to build their global profile, Germany offers a target for those seeking a toehold in Europe, despite a troubled outlook for the debt-burdened region.

"Chinese investors have broad prospects in the German market, although they are still at a fledging stage and (the Ministry of Commerce) encourages competitive companies to invest in the country, actively developing mutually beneficial investment cooperation between China and Europe," Sun Yongfu, head of the ministry's department of European affairs, told China Daily.

Chinese companies have cumulatively invested $2 billion in the German market, representing only 10 percent of German companies' investment in China. But there is huge potential.

Germany Trade & Invest, the country's foreign trade and inward investment agency, has said that China leapfrogged the United States and became Germany's largest overseas investor in 2011.

Sun said Chinese companies' rising investment in Germany will help boost the country's economy and jobs.

Influenced by the eurozone's debt crisis, Germany's economy is predicted to expand less than 1 percent this year.

"Given the current global economic situation, Chinese companies have good opportunities to invest in Germany ... and mergers and acquisitions can be good avenues for investment," said He Weiwen, co-director of the China-US-EU Study Center at the China Association of International Trade.

European companies are probably undervalued due to the debt crisis, and it's a good time for Chinese companies to tap into the European market through M&A deals, according to He.