Leifeld Metal Spinning AG is a 200-employee manufacturer of metal spinning machinery that forms sheet or plate by revolving a flat disc blank and pushing it over a former. The firm's technology is used to produce parts for the car, space and nuclear industries.
The Bloomberg article quotes Mikko Huotari, deputy director at the Mercator Institute for China Studies in Berlin, who says: “Leifeld produces some really top-notch machinery. Germany is well aware of the threat”, with Bloomberg itself continuing that by adding “posed by the Asian country’s goal of becoming the leader in advanced manufacturing under the so-called Made in China 2025 programme”.
The report adds that Germany is joining the US and Canada in taking a tougher line on China, with Chancellor Merkel’s government taking the lead in the European Union-wide screening of outside investments, the country having been the target of Chinese acquisitions in recent years.
Germany tightened measures to block such takeovers in July 2017, following the acquisition of 12,000-employee robot maker Kuka by China's Midea Group Co, and since then more than 80 deals have been examined, reports Bloomberg. More than a third of those, directly or indirectly, involved Chinese investors. However, the government hasn’t used the law to block an investment since it was established in 2004. And there have been numerous machine tool firm purchases.
In 2016, machine tool maker KraussMaffei was purchased by Beijing-based chemical giant Chemchina, with Kuka AG acquired last year. But this is not a new trend. In 2004, VTL maker Schiess Aschersleben was purchased by China’s Shenyang Machine Tool Group. Shenyang and others were interested in acquiring Germany’s MAG group in 2012, but it was Taiwan’s Fair Friend Group that ended up picking up elements of that.
According to a report by www.thedailystar.net, consultancy EY found Chinese companies bought 54 German firms last year and invested $13.7 billion in Germany.
Earlier this year, two Chinese groups reached the final round of bidding for Swiss-German machine tool maker United Grinding Group (UGG), whose brands include Studer. But the ultimate winner was a pool of investors organised by the Swiss BZ Bank Aktiengesellschaft.
But experts believe a new wave of Chinese investment is starting in support of the country's already-mentioned China 2025 programme.
It's not all one way, though. In 2013, Germany's Trumpf acquired Chinese rival Jiangsu Jinfangyuan. But that is a "rare case of a German family-owned business buying up its Chinese rival", www.dw.com reported at the time.
This latest move with Leifeld was actually precautionary, reports Bloomberg, as Yantai Taihai Group had indicated late in the day that it would withdraw.
