【英语中国】中国企业试水“新兴欧洲”

ZTE’s ￠200m contract win to build a mobile network for the Telenor’s Hungarian unit is the latest in a spate of Chinese dealmaking in central and eastern Europe. The deal, revealed in Monday’s Financial Times, underscores China’s growing influence in the region, which some companies view as a testing ground or springboard before entering western markets.

In addition to selling electronics, Chinese companies are building roads in Poland, financing power-plants in Serbia and building cars in Bulgaria. In Hungary alone, trade with China totaled $6.2bn in 2009.

And while it is not technically part of “emerging Europe”, hard-up Greece is also set to benefit from billions of euros of shipbuilding and construction deals.

Granted, the bulk of this activity is much smaller and less high-profile than China’s sometimes controversial dealmaking in resource-rich African and Central Asian states. It is also concentrated in a handful of sectors — most notably electronics, car-making and infrastructure.

Nevertheless, China is increasingly a first port of call as recession-hit companies in emerging Europe seek out cheaper vendors and cash-strapped governments look to reverse a decline in capital inflows by winning new foreign direct investment.

Frank Hou, managing director of Huawei Hungary, told the FT earlier this year that Hungary and the broader CEE market had “huge potential” and was an “area in which further investments from both Huawei and other leading ICT vendors was likely”.

Budapest is home to central Europe’s only branch of Bank of China and the city also has a trade centre to help Chinese companies enter European markets.

ZTE’s rival Huawei, the world’s second largest equipment maker, has already established an assembly plant and logistics centre in the country to serve Europe, Russia and North West Africa.

Meanwhile, Wanhua Industrial Group, the Chinese chemical conglomerate, in February revealed it may take control of BorsodChem, an isocyanate producer, in an unusually aggressive move that involved it buying up chunks of the Hungarian company’s mezzanine debt.

Acquiring Borsodchem will give it access to niche technology and the chance to become a global player in the specialist chemicals business.

Indeed, for Chinese companies looking to break into these markets, there seem to be fewer of the kind of protectionist barriers and national security concerns that have sidelined Chinese companies in the US.

With good infrastructure links and a well-educated workforce, the attractions of investing in eastern European remain undimmed.

And in spite of the recent slowdown, consumption in eastern Europe is expected eventually to recover and these economies are predicted to grow faster in the coming years than their more developed western rivals.

In summary: ZTE’s small contract win might be considered a drop in the ocean. But it will surely not be the last time that we see Chinese companies test the waters in emerging Europe.

中兴通讯(ZTE)赢得了一份价值2亿欧元的合同，为Telenor的匈牙利业务部门建设移动网络，这是中国企业最近在中东欧做成的大量交易中最新的一起。周一出版的英国《金融时报》披露了这一交易，凸显中国在该地区日益增强的影响力。一些公司视该地区为进入西方市场前的“试水区”。

除销售电子产品外，中国公司还在波兰修建公路，为塞尔维亚的电厂提供资金，在保加利亚制造汽车。光是匈牙利，与中国的贸易总额在2009年就达到了62亿美元。

缺少资金的希腊虽然从技术上讲不属于“新兴欧洲(emerging Europe)”，但该国也肯定会从与中国达成的数十亿欧元的造船和建筑项目中获益。

与中国在资源丰富的非洲和中亚国家进行的一些颇具争议的交易相比，中国企业在中欧和东欧的活动规模要小很多，也没那么引人注目。交易集中在少数几个行业里——最突出的是电子产品、造车和基础设施。

然而，当“新兴欧洲”地区遭受衰退打击的公司需要寻求更廉价的供应商、资金短缺的政府希望争取新的外国直接投资来扭转资本流入下降趋势的时候，中国正日益成为他们的首选。

华为(Huawei)匈牙利公司董事总经理弗兰克?侯(音译，Frank Hou)今年早些时候告诉与英国《金融时报》，匈牙利和范围更广的中东欧市场有着“巨大的潜力”，是“华为和其他领先ICT供应商可能进行进一步投资的地区”。

布达佩斯有着中国银行(Bank of China)目前在中欧仅有的一家分行，这座城市还设有一个帮助中国公司进入欧洲市场的贸易中心。

华为是世界第二大通信设备制造商，也是中兴通讯的竞争对手。它已在匈牙利建起了一个组装工厂和一个物流中心，服务欧洲、俄罗斯和西北非市场。

与此同时，中国化工集团企业万华实业集团(Wanhua Industrial Group)在2月份披露，可能将收购异氰酸酯生产商BorsodChem。这将是一个极其积极大胆的举动，因为如果交易达成，万华将接手这家匈牙利公司大量债务。

而收购Borsodchem将能使万华能利用这种小众技术，有机会成为这种特种化学品行业的全球性企业。

的确，对于考虑进入中东欧市场的中国公司，这一地区的贸易保护主义壁垒和对国家安全的担忧似乎小很多，而这些因素让许多中国公司在美国只能靠边站。

由于东欧有着良好的基础设施和受过良好教育的劳动力队伍，在该地区进行投资仍有很大的吸引力。

尽管最近经济减速，但东欧消费有望最终恢复。预计在未来数年里，与更发达的西方竞争对手比起来，这些经济体的增长将更为快速。

总而言之，中兴通讯赢得这笔合同的小小胜利可能被视作是沧海一粟。但它却肯定不会是最后一次我们看到中国公司试水新兴欧洲。

译者/李裕