With China's impending accession to the
World Trade Organization (WTO), many
renowned multinational corporations have hastened their mergers
with Chinese enterprises to take advantage of more business
opportunities.
The latest is Alcalel-cit world famous telecommunications equipment
provider which has become the second biggest shareholder in the Shanghai
Belling Company Limited by holding the majority of shares in
the Shanghai Bell Telephone Equipment Manufacturing Co. Ltd.
Alcalel-cit now holds 51 percent of Shanghai Bell's shares compared
with its former 31.65 percent. According to Tuesday's China
Business Times, Shanghai Belling Company Limited is expected to
become a major production base of Alcalel-cit throughout the
world.
There are also reports about mergers and cooperation between many
listed Chinese companies such as Tsinghua Tongfang Company Limited
and China
Petro-chemical Corp., and foreign enterprises, according to the
newspaper.
Experts point out that over 20 years of development, Chinese
enterprises, especially labor-intensive enterprises including
household electric appliances, have made marked progress in terms
of production capacity and management of product quality. Such
progress brings the essential conditions for transnational
incorporate combination, they add.
Shanghai Property Rights Trading Center registered a transaction
volume of 1.966 billion yuan (US$236 million) involving foreign
mergers last year, 29.25 times higher than in 1996, according to
statistics.
Transnational incorporate combination has become a major trend of
international investment, according to a report of a relevant U.N.
organization on the global investment situation in 2000, which says
that the amount of money involved in transnational incorporate
combination worldwide accounted for 69.7 percent of the global
transnational direct investment in 1995, with the ratio rising to
83.2 percent in 1999.
A
survey, carried out by a major United States consultation firm in
February, shows that 30 percent of the surveyed senior executives
of 1,000 large corporations held that many developing countries
including China have become the top choices of foreign enterprises
in terms of investment and in conducting incorporate
combination.
Experts say, transnational incorporate combination has, at the same
time, created opportunities for Chinese enterprises to invest
overseas and to make use of global resources.
In
June this year, the Haier Group Co., a giant electronic appliance
manufacturer in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province, bought a
refrigerator plant of Italy.
Combination between Chinese enterprises rose over the last few
years.
Authoritative statistics show that in 2000, more than 500 cases
involving the combination of listed Chinese firms were reported on
the Chinese mainland.
Experts say that incorporate combination will help improve the
competitiveness of Chinese enterprises on the international
market.
(
Xinhua News Agency November 8, 2001)