China: Growing Foreign Investment with Changed Targets - NAB
Gerard Burg, Senior Economist at NAB, notes that the pattern of foreign
investment is changing, with China targeting different countries and
sectors than in the initial wave that commenced in the mid-2000s.
Key Quotes
“In
March 2016, the privately listed Chinese insurance firm Anbang made a
US$14 billion bid to purchase the US hospitality firm Starwood Hotels
& Resorts (owners of the Sheraton and Westin brands). Although the
bid proved ultimately unsuccessful, the scale of this high profile
takeover bid highlights the growing influence of Chinese firms in global
mergers and acquisitions activity. It also demonstrates that there is
more to the recent outflow of capital from China than hot money flows
and debt repayment – as China’s foreign investment continues to grow.
Although
Australia remained the second largest recipient in 2015, the total
value of investment in Australia has started to fall back, relative to
the United States. Between 2005 and 2013, the cumulative value of
investment was almost identical between the two countries, but more
recently investment in the United States has accelerated – widening the
gap.
While energy remained the largest single sector for China’s
global investment across 2014 and 2015, its share declined to around 22%
of the total – with significant growth in Real Estate, Transport and
Technology sectors. In the past two years, one-third of China’s
investment in the United States has been directed towards the technology
sector – with these investments likely to provide support to the
country’s growing services sectors.”