subject: China Flexes Its Economic Muscles, Gives European Distributors a Lift [print this page] China Flexes Its Economic Muscles, Gives European Distributors a Lift
China has been shopping for companies across Europe, and European distributors and manufacturers should soon reap the benefits of China's growing economic power. Chinese buyersmostly opaque, often run by the Communist Party and sometimes driven by politics as well as profithave accounted for a tenth of cross-border deals by value in 2010, bidding for everything from American gas and Brazilian electricity grids to Volvo. The spread of Chinese capital should bring benefits to such recipients, and to the world as a whole. Take Volvo's new owner, Geely Volvo should now be able to sell more cars in China; without the deal its future was uncertain.
The rich world has tolerated the rise of mercantilist economies before: think of South Korea's state-led development or Singapore's state-controlled firms, which are active acquirers abroad. Yet China is different. It is already the world's second-largest economy, and in time it's likely to overtake the USA. Chinese firms are giants that until now have been inward-looking, but these firms are starting to use their vast resources abroad.
Chinese firms own just 6% of global investment in international business. Historically, top dogs have had a far bigger share than that both Britain and the USA peaked with a share of about 50%, in 1914 and 1967 respectively. China's natural rise could be turbocharged by its vast pool of savings.
The European business community, particularly European distributors and European manufacturers, continues to strengthen its ties with China. This sort of cross-pollination is the driving idea behind a revolutionary new concept, ExpoGlobalOnline.com. The ExpoGlobalOnline.com platform is a unique interactive environment that supports more than 170 interconnected national trade showcases, such as AustraliaExpoOnline.com, BrazilExpoOnline.com, ChinaExpoOnline.com, EuroMedExpoOnline.com, and USAExpoOnline.com, each presented as a comprehensive business information source and ongoing virtual exhibition. This cutting-edge concept delivers a value-added service to both subscribers and visitors by making the key business entities in each ExpoGlobalOnline.com partner country available in an easy-to-use, informative trade exhibition format. For more information, please visit www.ExpoGlobalOnline.com.
