The United Kingdom has experienced a surge of Chinese investment in recent years, among which are some extraordinarily fast-growing companies confidently establishing their footprint on British soil through both organic growth and acquisitions.
 

Nick Farr, partner and head of the China-Britain Services Group at accounting and consulting firm Grant Thornton UK, says Chinese investment in the UK still has huge potential.
 

Farr says that British Prime Minister David Cameron's visit to China, as well as several other recent high-profile trade missions, have once again reiterated the importance of strong bilateral trade ties between the two nations.
 

"As the number of Chinese companies going global continues to rise, the UK appears to be well and truly open to Chinese investment, benefiting hugely from the inflow of funds," Farr says.
 

Since 2009, China's investment in the UK, including direct investment and mergers and acquisitions, has maintained strong momentum and has reached $12.4 billion in total, with project investments being the main beneficiary.
 

This year, Chinese companies have invested or planned to invest in more than 10 big projects in Britain worth nearly $5 billion, according to data from the Chinese embassy in the UK.
 

The fast growth of Chinese companies in the UK also highlights the huge potential of the Sino-UK business relationship, says the Grant Thornton Tou Ying 25 tracker 2013. In Chinese, tou ying means "investing in the UK".

Chinese companies are also thriving in sectors where the UK is traditionally considered to have a strong advantage. In the telecommunications industry, China's largest fixed-line operator, China Telecom, is making sizable inroads after setting up its European headquarters in London in 2006.
 

Cao Li, managing director of China Telecom (Europe) Ltd, says the company has teamed up with several European network operators and service providers such as BT Group Plc, Telecom Italia SpA and Spain's Telefonica SA.

He says it has expanded s
tep-by-step to include more than 10 points of presence (an access point from one place to the rest of the Internet) in locations including London, Frankfurt, Stockholm, Moscow, Paris, Johannesburg, Helsinki and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
 

 

 

China Telecom (Europe) launched its mobile phone business in the UK last year with CTExcelbiz, a service that uses leased capacity on the network of Everything Everywhere, the joint venture of France Telecom SA and Deutsche Telekom AG.
 

CTExcelbiz has more than 10,000 clients in the UK and has since extended its services to France, Cao Li says.
 

Chinese companies that have taken the inorganic route, mostly through acquisitions of struggling British companies, are leveraging on their UK subsidiaries' technologies and research expertise to develop new products and markets.
 

Zhou Xiaoming, minister counselor of the Chinese embassy in the UK, however, says that Chinese companies are now diversifying their investments in the UK, moving from traditional finance, trade and telecommunications to advanced manufacturing, infrastructure, branding and research and development.
 

Zhou says this diversification of the Sino-UK business relationship has promoted the growth of Chinese companies and helped them go global. It has also boosted growth and employment and helped aid British economic recovery.
 

In 2008, Zhuzhou CSR Times Electric, a Chinese company that makes train-borne electrical systems and electrical components, acquired Dynex Inc, a semiconductor manufacturer based in Lincoln, England.

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