Chint Group confirms it's circling targets abroad

Chairman hints at expansion in Belt and Road markets this year

Chint Group, China's leading new-energy and industrial electrical equipment company, will definitely be making new investments in 2017 - particularly in economies along the Belt and Road Initiative - as part of its aggressive globalization strategy, its chairman told China Daily on March 3.

"Our globalization strategy is to go abroad for mergers and acquisitions, bring in advanced technologies, and then go abroad again to produce high-end products," says Nan Cunhui, chairman of Chint Group.

"There are many good high-tech deals in Europe whose valuations are reasonable, so we can bring their technologies to the Chinese market and achieve win-win results."

In 2016, Chint Group acquired a 25 percent stake in Spain's grapheme polymer battery company Grabat Energy SL.

Nan says the group's working relations with Grabat since then have been very smooth and some technological breakthroughs have been made.

The chairman says that in the current year, Europe and the United Kingdom will continue to be Chint Group's main destinations for mergers and acquisitions, followed by the United States and Japan.

"Most developing countries and regions along the Belt and Road are still is the early stages of industrialization, and they have strong demand for our high-end products," Nan says. "We will definitely set up factories in these countries this year."

The company has already established factories along the Belt and Road including in Thailand, Malaysia, Pakistan, Iran and Egypt.

In February, Chint Group opened its first factory for low-voltage switchgear manufacturing in Cairo, in the company's first move abroad in 2017.

"We need to respect local culture when engaged in M&As or making direct investments," Nan adds.

Alan Wang, a partner in the international law firm Freshfields, which has extensive experience in M&As, says there are a number of key challenges facing Chinese investors abroad, including a lack of understanding of local laws, particularly those related to labor, environment and taxes; inadequate infrastructure (especially power supply, transport and logistics); corruption and a lack of political stability; and bureaucracy.

To date, Chint Group has established factories, research-and-development centers and marketing branches in about 80 countries and regions in Europe, North America, Russia, South America, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region.

The company has built more than 30 photovoltaic power plants overseas and sold its products to more than 130 countries and regions.

caixiao@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily European Weekly 03/10/2017 page29)