Chinese Acquisitions in Europe

Over the last year there has been a lot of  speculation about the security threat posed by Chinese technology companies such as Huwei and Tik-Tok.

Huwei's role in telecoms networks around the world has led to a major worry about how much information the company passes on to the Chinese government. Similar concerns have been raised about the use of Tik-Tok and how much personal user data can be accessed by Beijing. Both companies claim that they pose no security risks to their users but many western governments doubt that either company has any power to refuse Chinese data requests.

Of course Huwei and Tik-Tok are not the only companies which could be used by the Chinese to gather data. Datenna has identified over 650 acquisitions by Chinese investors in Europe.You can view all these acquisitions on the China-EU FDI Radar interactive map. On this map you can explore European companies which have been acquired by Chinese investors and also view Datenna's rating of the level of Chinese state-influence in each acquisition.

The level of state-influence and the possible security threat of each acquisition is based on a number of different factors, these include the percentage of shares held, the shareholder structure and the level of state-control of any investors. Based on their ratings Datenna has identified over 160 acquisitions where there is a high level of Chinese government influence. These acquisitions are in a number of different sectors, including energy, transport and information communication technology. These acquisitions have also taken place across Europe and in every major European country.