On June 17th, Nordic Match Senior Advisor Gerard van Damme, M&A Director Adam Xu, and Analyst Simon Forsgren held a presentation on recent macroeconomic developments and cross-border M&A trends in China. The presentation primarily focused on the most recent opportunities in the Chinese and APAC markets for European MNCs and investors, as well as how to deal with the specific challenges associated with doing M&A in China as a foreign company.

One recent trend is that the M&A rationale for European MNCs seeking to grow in China is increasingly to tap further into the Chinese R&D ecosystem and adding new technologies to their global product portfolio. As China’s share of global R&D spending continues to grow, it becomes increasingly imperative as a foreign company to invest in China both to maintain success in China and to strengthen their global position for the long-term.

Another relevant ongoing development is the increased difficulty of pursuing an IPO in China’s capital markets. In recent years, stricter IPO requirements means that the timelines and complexities associated with pursuing a public listing in China have increased significantly, dropping the number of IPOs. One benefit for European MNCs due to this is that potential acquisition targets that were previously considering an IPO may now be more receptive to being acquired by a foreign investor.

The event was hosted by Swedbank at their Shanghai Tower office in Lujiazui, and was main-organized by the Swedish Chamber of Commerce in China, with Finncham China and the Benelux Chamber of Commerce in China also joining as co-organizers. Thanks to all four for a very good collaboration.

We were glad to see a high turnout for this event, and that a lot of interesting questions were raised during the Q&A session, particularly regarding the details and challenges of leading M&A transactions in China.

For a deeper dialogue regarding any of the topics discussed during the presentation, please feel free to contact us directly.


About Nordic Match
Nordic Match is a boutique M&A and Strategy Advisor headquartered in Shanghai, China. Dedicated to Euro-Asia transactions, we have a clear vision – to support aspiring corporates and investors in search for value-creating opportunities between Europe and Asia.

More about Nordic Match: www.nordic-match.com