Transcript Chinese investments in Scandinavia

Foreign investments in
Scandinavia
Attorney-at-law Henrik Nilsson
Advokatfirman Allians
Stockholm, Sweden
Scandinavia in numbers
 The five countries make up the largest region in
Europe (1.2 million square kilometres)
 Home to nearly 25 million people. Sweden has the
largest population of the region.
 The 12th largest economy in the world
Why should your clients
invest in Scandinavia?
 Innovative and high-tech market with easy access to raw materials
 World-class research and development
 Open-minded and highly-educated workers with flexible work hours
- High English proficiency
 Safe, stable and largely corruption-free area
- Recent Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) rank three Scandinavian
countries among the five least corrupted in the world
 Access to the EU – the world’s largest free trade market
 Attractive corporate taxation
 Easy business set-up
- Much can be done online and in English
Global Innovation Index 2013
 Ranks the innovation performance of 142 countries and economies
around the world every year.
 Performed by Cornell University, INSEAD and the World Intellectual
Property Organization (WIPO)
 The ranking is based on 84 indicators which fall under 7 pillars
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Institutions,
Human capital and research,
Infrastructure,
Market sophistication,
Business sophistication,
Knowledge and technology outputs and
Creative outputs
Global Innovation Index 2013
Top Ten 2013 ranking
1. Switzerland (Number 1 in 2012)
2. Sweden (2)
3. United Kingdom (5)
4. Netherlands (6)
5. United States of America (10)
6. Finland (4)
7. Hong Kong (China) (8)
8. Singapore (3)
9. Denmark (7)
10. Ireland (9)
Highly reputable area
The Reputation Institute has scored people’s perceptions of
different countries based on three main factors.
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Advanced Economy
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Appealing Environment
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Produces high quality products and services
Has many well-known brands
Important contributor to global culture
Technologically advanced
Well-educated and reliable workforce
Values education
Beautiful country
Enjoyable country
Offers an appealing lifestyle
The people are friendly and welcoming
Effective Government
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Offers a favorable environment for doing business
Run by an effective government
Has adopted progressive social and economic policies
Responsible participant in the global community
Is a safe place
Operates efficiently
"Sweden offers an extremely
competitive, largely corruption-free
economy with access to new products,
technologies, skills, and innovations."
- US Departments of State's yearly
Investment Climate Statements 2013
“Denmark, the most business friendly
climate in Europe"
- World Bank, Doing Business Report 2013
"The Nordic countries are probably the
best governed in the world"
- The Economist, 2013
Legal considerations
 All five Scandinavian countries have largely similar legal systems.
 Sweden, Denmark and Finland members of the EU. Norway and Iceland
highly integrated with the EU through EFTA (European Free Trade
Association) and EEA (European Economic Area).
 The EU has harmonized rules regarding issues such as antitrust,
environment, intellectual property, research & innovation, transportation
and taxation.
 EU Single Market.
 EU-legislation appoints applicable law in cross-border lawsuits and
provides that national court rulings be recognized throughout the EU.
Successful foreign investments
in Scandinavia
 In August 2010, the Chinese automotive company Geely Automobile
completed its purchase of the Swedish car manufacturer Volvo
Automobile Company.
 Since the acquisition, Geely has decided to establish an important
Research and Development Centre in Gothenburg, Sweden. The Centre
employs approximately 200 full-time engineers from Sweden and China.
 Geely has in total managed to create 1,500 new jobs in Sweden whilst
raising employee satisfaction to its highest rating in 10 years. Geely has
also managed to increase Volvo’s revenue, much thanks to the largely
increased market share in China.
 The Swedish Finance minister, Anders Borg has stated that “GEELY’s
investment in Volvo could be rated as a model of the business cooperation
between Sweden and China, which has gained credit for China”.
 In 2012, the American IT-company Intel opened two new Research &
Development-sites in Finland with the aim to provide more advanced
platform solutions, focusing on mobile hardware platforms and software
solutions.
 After choosing Finland, Intel hailed Finland’s engineering talent and the
trendsetting Finnish customers in their demands for new technology
solutions.
 “We selected Finland for recent R&D investment because of the good
availability of talented software developers and hardware engineers as
well as the high levels of safety, stability, education and research here,”
- Brian Quinn, Director Business Strategy, Intel Labs Europe
SAAB + NEVS
– a Swedish/Chinese/Japanese collaboration
 In 2012, the well-known Swedish car manufacturer Saab Automobile filed for bankruptcy.
 National Electric Vehicle Sweden AB (NEVS) acquired the main assets of the Saab Automobile
bankruptcy estates for development and manufacturing of electric vehicles.
 NEVS is owned by the National Modern Energy Holdings Ltd. (NME Holdings Ltd.), operated
from Hong Kong.
 The research, development and manufacturing of the eletric vehicles are now a unification of
Swedish know-how in manufacturing and design and Japanese advanced technology.
 The company operates a plant in Trollhättan, Sweden. This is also the main hub of Nevs,
including head office, research and development as well as manufacturing. Beijing National
Battery Technology, a Chinese sister company of Nevs, also operates a manufacturing plant
for electric vehicle batteries in Beijing.
 Research and development is conducted by Swedish, Japanese, and Chinese engineers.
Here’s where you come in…
 Promote Scandinavia for investments in highly qualified
business sectors, such as Life Sciences, Metals and Mining,
Engineering, Energy & Environment and Bio Materials.
 Remember, the Scandinavian countries provide skilled
workers in a safe, reputable environment with direct access to
the European Union and its 507 million citizens.