When Chinese investments abroad overtake investments at home later this year, Europe - and Luxembourg as an investment hub - may benefit from the outflow of Chinese wealth: This was the optimistic message given by Chinese economist Min Tang during a KPMG conference on 14 October 2015. The economist encouraged the 80 industry players gathered at KPMG’s headquarters to hear Mr. Tang and other Chinese business leaders give insight into business opportunities in China, when he boldly declared “Luxembourg, we need your bridge.”

"Luxembourg, we need your bridge.”

Tang Min, Counselor of China’s State Council and Former Chief Economist of the ADB mission to China, described how rising labour costs in China will soon force Chinese companies to upgrade their operations, so as to remain competitive. The technology and brand know-how required to progress, however, may be difficult to find inside China’s borders: Chinese companies will therefore come to Europe to find the deals they need to progress. Head of the KPMG Luxembourg China Desk Victor Chan Yin explained.

A helping hand

“Europe has the technology and skills that China needs, so we expect to see a lot more Chinese companies opting for Mergers and Acquisitions here. However, Chinese companies lack experience in conducting such deals: we recently signed an MOU with the “Chinese Silicon Valley” that specifically looks to give a hand on this. Chinese companies often need advice on how to structure deals, and how to perform a thorough due diligence that ensures their investment is safe. Luxembourg has a wealth of experience in this area and we are well-placed to guide Chinese companies through the M&A process.”

Conference speakers and panellists all concurred that collaboration between China and Luxembourg would be a win-win for all parties. Min Tang and Georges Bock were joined on stage by keynote speakers - Annie Wu, CPPCC Standing Member and Founder of Beijing Air Catering and Michael Wong, Tax Partner at KPMG China – to discuss business opportunities in China. The keynote section was followed by a lively panel discussion with Zuo Xiao-Lei, Chief Economist, China Galaxy Securities; Chen Fei, Chairman, ICBC (Europe) S.A.; Zheng Bingkai, General Manager, ABC (Luxembourg) S.A.; and  Tina Tsai, head of PR, Huawei (Western Europe) S.A..