China is a big spender
in the UK, where it has invested more than in Germany, France and Italy
combined in recent years.
Investors have sunk around $38bn (£29bn) into
everything from prime London real estate to banks and football clubs according
to figures from the American Enterprise Institute and the Heritage Foundation.
Alongside the low-key property deals, Chinese
companies have also struck deals to buy a string of household names over the
past few years.
Shanghai-based Bright Foods owns
60% of Weetabix after it paid £720m to get its teeth into the cereal
company in May 2012, while Hony Capital paid
£900m for restaurant chain Pizza Express in July 2014.
Some of the UK’s retail powerhouses are also
under Chinese ownership, including the famous Hamleys toy shop on Regent
Street, sold
to footwear firm C.banner international for £100m in October last
year.
The House of Fraser department store chain is
Chinese-owned, after Nanjing Cenbest paid
£480m for an 89% stake in September 2014.
Dr Tony Xia bought Aston Villa in June,
while West Bromwich Albion are on the verge of being sold to a Guochuan Lai-led
group of investors. Photograph: Darren Staples/Reuters
The glamour of English football has also proved
an attractive prospect for Chinese fans of the Premier League with money to
spend.
Dr
Tony Xia bought Aston Villa for an undisclosed sum thought to be
around £52m in June, saying he wanted to restore the relegated club to its
former glory and make it the “best known football club in the world”.
Villa’s near neighbours West Bromwich Albion
are on
the verge of being sold to an investment group led by Chinese
entrepreneur Guochuan Lai, while fellow Midlands club Wolverhampton Wanderers
was bought
by investment group Fosun International for around £45m last month.
Chinese investors’ sporting ambitions also
extend to golf, with the Wentworth
club sold to Reignwood for £135m in September 2014, while Dalian Wanda
Grouppaid
£320m for 92% of Sunseeker Yachts in June 2013.
Sovereign wealth fund China Investment
Corporation is also a big investor in the UK. Its holdings include a £450m
10% stake in Heathrow Holdings, the firm behind the UK’s hub airport,
bought in November 2012.
Source: The guardian