The consulting company EY has analyzed Chinese investments in Europe and placed Switzerland in joint fifth place with the Netherlands for the number of transactions. Over the past year, Chinese investors made 12 transactions in each of the two countries, compared to 13 in Switzerland in the previous year. There were 182 transactions in Europe last year, most of them in Germany.
Swiss companies pull in more money
In terms of the value of the transactions, Switzerland is sixth in Europe, after Chinese investors invested 571 million dollars in Swiss companies in 2019. This is an increase in transaction value over the previous year (492 million dollars). In Europe as a whole, Chinese investors invested 17.3 billion dollars in 2019, with most of this sum going to companies in Great Britain.
Greatest sum goes to Swiss Education Group
In Switzerland, the greatest sum of money poured into the Swiss Education Group AG, a consortium of leading hotel management schools based in Zug. The Sichuan Shuangma Cement Co invested 275 million dollars in the company in a transaction valued as the ninth biggest Chinese investment in Europe last year.
Another large transaction in Switzerland in 2019 was the acquisition of the Aargau medtech company New Valve Technology by Blue Sail Medical. The Chinese invested 159 million dollars.
