Why Chinese Investors?

China is fast becoming economic super power of the world. It has vast human & natural resources, and a huge knowledge base. British economist Angus Maddison predicts the country could be reinstated as the world's biggest economy by 2015. By 2030, Maddison also predicts China's economy will be 138 percent of the US economy.

China’s emerging economic clout has made it world's top spot for billionaires. China is second in the race of billionaires after USA. China produced 60 people with 10-figure fortunes, worth a total of over $210 billions. Three chinese even made it to the list of the top 30 of the worlds richest.

There are so many multi-millionaires and billionaires in China who are aggressively looking to invest outside China. So far there has been hundreds of Investments, securing millions of pounds and dollars of Chinese funding. Now, you can access the potential investors yourself with this directory.

China is undeniably a global economic powerhouse. While the global financial crisis was a catastrophe for most economies, it was more an opportunity than a challenge for China. China has seemingly effortlessly amassed the world's biggest stockpile of foreign exchange reserves, it is overtaking Germany as the biggest exporting nation and now has a car market bigger than America's.

Chinese companies are snapping up natural resources firms across the globe and picking over the carcasses of car marques laid low by the financial crisis. The value of Chinese outbound M&A, at $42.6 billion last year, was below a record $73 billion from 2008, but nonetheless accounted for China's highest share yet of the global total at 7.5 percent, Thomson Reuters data show.

Why is foreign investment by Chinese businesses increasing so rapidly? Firstly, China's high rates of economic growth are promoting investment abroad. Secondly, the Chinese government is encouraging and supporting foreign investment by businesses for the purposes of avoiding economic friction, acquiring resources, and cultivating global enterprises. Furthermore, at the individual business level, factors such as global management as part of survival and development strategies, as well as plans for acquiring overseas markets and technology are also actively spurring investment abroad.

Foreign investment by Chinese businesses has been rapidly increasing. In recent years, Chinese businesses mostly invested in the following fields: communications, information systems, information technology industries, trade, wholesale & retail industries related to market expansion, and resource development.

Below are the recent expansions of some of the Chinese firms:-

The deal by Sinopec, the largest Chinese oil refiner, to buy the Swiss oil explorer Addax for $7.24 billion last month was China’s largest overseas acquisition yet.

The European luxury car maker Volvo was purchased by Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, an automaker that is relatively unknown outside of China. The Chinese firm bought Volvo for $1.8 billion from cash-strapped Ford Motor Co., which was desperate to unload it. Geely's purchase of Volvo was done for two of the main reasons why Chinese companies are investing abroad, said He, the Dragonomics analyst. One of the reasons was bargain hunting, getting a solid brand at a good price, she said.

Nanjing Auto Group's purchase of Britain's MG sportscar brand. Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co. purchased Saab Automobile's core technology from General Motors Co.

In December 2004, China made what then was the most stunning acquisition: the nation's largest personal computer maker, Lenovo Group, acquired the controlling stake in IBM's PC business. The $1.25 billion deal saw Lenovo jump to the third spot amongst the world's largest PC makers. The deal also saw IBM getting an 18.9 per cent pie in Lenovo.

This acquisition saw Lenovo extend its Asia-alone presence on the world stage, and allowed it to save business costs.It gave the company a huge opportunity to tap into European and American markets: a battlefield of sorts where Dell and HP are the biggest players.

ICBC paid $5.6 billion USD for a 20% stake in South Africa's Standard Bank last year, for example, not only to better serve the growing ranks of Chinese companies doing business in the region, but to learn technical skills, management and operation techniques directly from their partners. These ventures are opportunities to train their own talent and to attract foreign talent for their future oversea expansions.

China Minsheng Bank bought 5% of UCBH Holdings, the holding company of San Francisco's United Commercial Bank, a bank catering mainly to small and medium-sized local Chinese-American run businesses. Minsheng purchased another share in March for a total 9.9 percent share valued at 2.5 billion RMB ($317 USD). Minsheng intends to purchase another 10 percent next year.

China's Ping An Insurance Company became the largest shareholder in Belgian financial company Fortis N.V., having acquired a 4.18% stake for €1.81 billion ($2.7 billion). This past March they upped that stake to 4.99%, in addition to purchasing half of Fortis' asset management business for €2.15 billion. The business will be rebranded as Fortis Ping An Investments.

Langchao, for example, formed a joint venture with Japanese software company Shinwa in 2006 to expand its outsourcing market in Japan, and tap into Shinwa's experience in industries including transportation, finance, manufacturing, and education.

Global expansion is a top priority for Langchao, which changed its name to Inspur (600756) in April 2006 to make its name easier for foreign clients to pronounce. Inspur hopes to increase sales from overseas markets by as much as 30% by 2010.