The sun sets over Milan in this view from the Duomo di Milano, or Milan Cathedral, in... Read More
“They are the only ones who are buying,” said 43-year-old Narzisi during a break after the lunch-time rush of businessmen and shoppers in the heart of Italy’s financial capital. “We want to sell, taxes are too high; we work eight hours a day for the state and one hour for us.”
Caffe Orefici is among the 18,000 advertisements from
businesses and individuals that have been published since February last year on Vendereaicinesi.it -- sell to the Chinese -- a website that helps Italians, stricken by the third recession in six years, attract bids for properties, products and services from Chinese suitors.
While Italian stores turn to the local Chinese community, the country’s largest companies are seeking investments directly from the Asian giant. Italy has been China’s biggest target in Europe after the U.K. this year, with cross-border acquisitions for $3.43 billion, according to Bloomberg available data.
Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who’s struggling to cut Europe’s second-biggest debt of more than 2 trillion euros ($2.53 trillion), urged Chinese investors in June during a Beijing visit to buy stakes in Italian companies, following his counterparts in Greece and Portugal who tapped Chinese money to raise revenue and exit bailout programs.
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, left, and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang attend a... Read More
Mandarin Site
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang will attend a summit of European and Asian leaders and other business events in Milan from Oct. 16, completing his week-long European visit.The Caffe Orefici bar managers turned to Vendereaicinesi.it, whose ads are translated into mandarin and can also be published in other Chinese websites for a fee, after striking out with a local agent. Their ad was viewed 400 times in three weeks and they received four expressions of interest, said Narzisi. Ads range from an ice-cream parlor in Tuscany to a historic jeans shop in Cremona and a Ferrari 458 Italia.
“We realized that an online tool to link Italians and Chinese was missing,” said Simone Toppino, 35, who co-founded with his brother Alberto and Alessandro Zhou the website that has a mirror mandarin site Maimaiouzhou.com. They charge 42 euros to about 90 euros for their services. Most Chinese users of the website live in Italy. Bankruptcies have reached a record high this year, with more than 8,000 companies going bust in the first half in Italy, Cerved Group SpA data show.
Record Unemployment
While unemployment near a record of 12.7 percent and fiscal burden at an all-time high make it difficult for Italians to access credit, the 321,000 Chinese living in the country are better positioned as they can count on family networks rather than banks for financing, said Toppino, who’s from the northwestern town of Alba.Renzi flew to China in June with a delegation of dozens of Italian companies to help broker deals. A few weeks later, Italy’s state lender announced the sale of a stake in energy grids holding company CDP Reti SpA to State Grid Corp. of China for 2.1 billion euros.
People’s Bank of China in July disclosed stakes in some of Italy’s biggest companies, Fiat SpA (F), Telecom Italia SpA (TIT) and Assicurazioni Generali SpA (G), adding to investments in Eni SpA (ENI) and Enel SpA (ENEL) in March for a total of 3.04 billion euros.
Chinese Acquisitions
Chinese global cross-border acquisitions topped $54.3 billion this year, up 35 percent, Bloomberg available data show. Shanghai-based Fosun International Ltd. (656) in January outbid a U.S. buyout firm for Portugal’s 80 stake in Caixa Geral de Depositos SA’s insurance unit for 1 billion euros. Hong Kong-based Cosco Pacific Ltd. (1199) is among bidders of a state-fund stake in Piraeus Port Authority (PPA) while a Chinese venture is seeking a majority in Athens International Airport.Renzi’s government is considering selling stakes in energy companies Eni and Enel after other planned asset sales were delayed.
“We registered an increase in clients interested in investments in Italy last year and the trend has continued in 2014, with a growth of almost 50 percent,” said Sara Marchetta, resident partner of law firm Chiomenti in Beijing, which advised State Grid in the biggest deal in Europe for a Chinese firm this year. Fashion, machinery and industrial equipment are target industries, she said. Retail group Shenzhen Marisfrolg Fashion Co. Ltd bought ready-to-wear brand Krizia in February.
Finmeccanica Units
More than 90 Chinese groups, excluding Hong Kong, had a stake in Italian firms at the end of 2013, up almost 20 percent, according to the Milan-based Italy-China Foundation, which promotes business among the two countries. In May, state lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti SpA’s strategic fund sold a 40 percent stake in Ansaldo Energia SpA, formerly owned by state defense holding Finmeccanica SpA (FNC), to Shanghai Electric Group Co. (2727) A China CNR Corp.-led group made it to the short list of two bidders for Finmeccanica’s transport units.“Confidence has returned and investing in the country is convenient because prices are very low right now and there are jewels being sold for peanuts,” said Antimo Cappuccio, a Shanghai-based partner of Pirola Pennuto Zei & Associati. The law firm is advising the China Corporate United Pavilion on its mission to bring about 50 companies, including Shanghai Baosteel Group Corp., to the 2015 Milan Expo international fair, which has already sold 1 million tickets in China.
Direct Chinese investments in the euro area have almost quadrupled between 2006 and 2012, the latest year for which data are available, while portfolio investments rose 60 percent, according to data from the European Central Bank.
The Chinese “are buying pretty much everything so I tried to put an ad as well,” said Marina Cerrato, who in July last year sold her amusement arcade in Alba in less than 40 days to a Chinese family from Bologna through the Vendereaicinesi.it website. “I didn’t give it away, I sold at the price I intended.”
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