Chinese investment in Europe

: a financing perspective

Abstract

This study examines Chinese multinationals and their foreign direct investment (FDI) activities in Europe from the perspective of corporate finance. Specifically, it attempts to explore the role of firm financing in the internationalisation of Chinese business and further investigates the extent to which and the rationale of, financing as an important factor in influencing the decisions and strategies of Chinese enterprises during this process. It has collected primary data via fieldwork interviews with corporate executives, senior staff, and financial experts, meanwhile incorporated a diverse range of secondary data gathered from commercial databases (such as BvD-Zephyr, Thomson One, and FDI Markets) and authoritative documentations from both publicly available and private sources. The findings suggest that while Chinese firms are financed through four main sources - internal ones, debt financing, equity financing, and hybrid financing - internal funds and bank loans are the most used arrangements, and Chinese firms are substantially affected by their financing strategy in their FDI activities particularly in Europe. This study contributes to the FDI literature by providing an additional analytical lens and by adding empirical evidence to the current scant literature on Chinese investment, with a focus on Europe.

Date of Award	27 Sept 2022
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Bristol
Supervisor	Jeffrey Henderson (Supervisor) & Magnus Feldmann (Supervisor)