Chinese investments in Italy

According to AgiChina24’s data, Chinese foreign investments exceeded 100 billion US $ in 2014. For 2015, the Chinese establishment planned investments for 113 billion US $, with an increase of 10 %. Reuters reports, that Italy holds the second position of the European markets for Chinese investments and the fifth in the world. An efficient, on time legal service has become indispensable for Chinese investors in order to have their rights and investments guaranteed.

The Chinese like Italy and will like it more and more. Chinese group Fosun has recently defeated Hines and Prelios in buying from Idea Fimit the famous Palazzo Broggi in Milan, once Unicredit bank’s headquarters, a very icon-building, bought after a thrilling money-race head-to-head with important Italian competitors (source: Italpress – agenzia di stampa, March 2015). This big shot is not a coincidence. It is the result of a well planned investments strategy by the Chineses´ biggest financial groups in Italy and Europe, in real estate and many other branches.

The agency AgiChina24 reports that, of 870 billion $ Chinese global investments around the world, about 400 billion $ are destined to energy branch, 134 billion $to transports, and 6,3 billion $to  industrial properties.

For Reuters, Italy is the second favorite market for Chinese investors in Europe and the fifth worldwide. Everybody knows the recent biggest investments in Italy of Chinese groups: the acquisition, started in 2003, of 3 Italia, the mobile phone company, an operation for more than 13 billion €, by the Chinese giant company Hutchison Wampoa, owner of the Marionnaud perfumery brand (130 stores in Italy); the purchase  of Pirelli group by Chinese state’s giant Chem China for more than 7 billion €; the acquisition of 40 % of Ansaldo Energia’s stocks by Shanghai Electric Group for 400 billion € from Finmeccanica. And many other operations concerning investments in luxury brands like Krizia and Ferragamo as well as in popular brands like Fiorucci, Miss Sixty and Cerruti.

Italian real estate market is particularly attractive and affordable for Chinese investors: both for private and companies (today, according to a recent Istat research, Chinese citizens regularly established in Italy are about 320.000: between 2008 and 2011, despite the economic depression, their presence was increased of a full 26 %; the most of them are businessmen or real estate developers).

But the Italian market and, in particular, the real estate one, is not free of risks. That’s why, in order to avoid  pitfalls, it is particularly important to get the right assistance and legal advice in the branches  of contractual law, international trade law, urbanistic law, and much more. The Reichel Law Firm, established in Italy since 1990, offers to its international clients trustable, detailed and complete legal services, also in English.


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