China beats US as top foreign investor in Germany

Monday, 19 March 2012 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

BERLIN: China overtook the US to become the top foreign investor in Germany in 2011 in terms of investment project numbers, according to statistics released by the Germany Trade and Invest agency last week.

Chinese investment projects in Germany have totalled up to 158, ahead of the US’ 110, Switzerland’s 91 and France’s 53, said a statement by GTAI, the economic development agency of the German government, reported Xinhua.

In a latest sign of the strong Chinese investment tide in Germany, automotive supplier Heibei Lingyun Industrial Group Corporation earlier this week agreed to buy Kiekert, a German maker of latch systems for cars.

Early this year, Chinese construction equipment manufacturer Sany Heavy Industry wound up acquisition of Putzmeister, a German engineering firm.

The deal has been deemed as one of the biggest investment projects in the mechanical manufacturing and engineering sector, the pillar industry of the German economy.

More than half of the total foreign investments in Germany still come from the European countries, according to the GTAI.