Mergers and acquisitions of German enterprises

German laws and regulations on foreign investment

Different from China's foreign investment approval system, Germany basically treats foreign investors and domestic investors equally, with almost no restrictions except for a few special industries.

1, Foreign Investment Law

In principle, goods, services, capital, payment and other economic exchanges with foreign countries are free (article 1, paragraph 1, sentence 1 of the Foreign Economic Law). Foreign companies can buy German companies without any permission. However, there are some exceptions in some industries, such as finance and arms industry.

2. Banking, financial services and insurance

Germany has a very strict supervision system for the financial industry. Banks, financial services companies and insurance companies all need the permission of the Federal Financial Services Regulatory Authority (Article 32 of the Credit Industry Law and Article 5 of the Insurance Supervision Law).

3. If a bank or financial services enterprise (or its significant equity 1) is acquired, it must notify the Federal Financial Services Supervision Office (article 2b, paragraph 1, of the Credit Industry Law). If, after the acquisition, the Federal Financial Services Supervisory Authority is unable to supervise the foreign parent company of the target company, or the supervisory authority in the country where the parent company is located is unwilling to cooperate with the Federal Supervisory Authority satisfactorily, the Federal Financial Services Supervisory Authority may refuse to grant approval according to Item 3 of Article 2b 1a of the Credit Law. In principle, this also applies to the acquisition of equity of insurance companies (Article 8, Paragraph 1, Clause 3 and the following, of the Insurance Supervision Law).

4. Monitoring of weapons of war

The arms industry is also under very strict monitoring. The production, purchase, sale, import, export and transportation of war weapons require a license (Articles 2 to 4a of the War Weapons Control Law). If the applicant is not a German living in Germany, it is very likely that the application will be rejected (Article 6, paragraph 2, item 2 (a) of the War Weapons Control Law). In principle, the review procedure does not consider the identity of the company's shareholders, but the identity of the natural person who acts specifically, but may also consider the nationality of the shareholders. Therefore, the approval for foreigners to acquire military enterprises can be revoked (Article 7, paragraph 1 of the War Weapons Control Law).

5. Other licenses

5- 1. Several other industries may also need official permission. However, under normal circumstances, licenses are issued to individual operators, so there will be no major problems in equity acquisition. However, if assets are acquired, it is necessary to consider whether the acquirer will obtain the necessary permission. Here, generally speaking, the nationality of the operator or its shareholders is not a factor to be considered. The following are several licenses for self-employed:

Energy supply enterprises need permission (Article 3 of Energy Economic Law, 1 sentence). If the applicant does not have the human, technical and economic ability to provide energy normally for a long time, or the approval of providing energy will bring adverse consequences to energy users, it can be rejected (Article 3, paragraph 2, of the Energy Economic Law).

5-2. Enterprises in the telecommunications industry need licenses (Article 6, paragraph 1 of the Telecommunications Law). Only when there is enough frequency, the applicant is reliable, efficient and has professional knowledge, and the issuance of licenses will not endanger public safety and order (Paragraph 3 of Article 8 of the Telecommunications Law). Any change of the owner shall be notified to the official (article 9, paragraph 2, of the Telecommunications Law).

5-3. Various licenses are required for mineral development (Article 6 of the Mining Law). This license depends on different technical, professional and content factors, as well as the reliability and public interest of the applicant (Articles 1 1 to 13 of the Mining Law).

5-4. Only when the applicant can be trusted and has the prescribed property conditions can he obtain permission from intermediary agencies, building developers and building supervision offices (Article 34c of the Industrial and Commercial Regulations).

5-5. There are also many licensing restrictions in the transportation industry. Only when the applicant is trustworthy, has the ability to pay and has relevant professional skills can the license be issued (Article 3, paragraph 2, of the Law on the Transport of Goods, Article 13, paragraph 1, Article 6, paragraph 2, of the Law on People's Transportation). There are other specific circumstances. The nationality of the applicant's shareholders is not important, but in some cases, the applicant is required to have a residence in Germany.

In a word, the nationality of the applicant's shareholders is not important. Only in rare cases will the nationality issue play a key role in examining credibility and public interest.

model

Ningbo Sheng Jun Investment Group acquires German Rip.

Ningbo Yizhou Investment Group acquired German Weiyungao joint-stock company.

Chongqing Textile Holding (Group) Company acquires German Sargu Rice.

Hangzhou Machine Tool Group bought Steiger flat knitting machine from Stanger.

Taizhou Jack Holding Group Acquires German Maben and Toka Enterprises

Ningbo Zhong Qiang Company acquired the brand and some equipment of German Lutz Company.

Dalian Machine Tool Group acquired 70% shares of German zimmermann Co., Ltd.

Shanggong Shenbei acquired 94.98% holding of German DA Company.

Shenyang Machine Tool Group acquired all the net assets of Germany Heath Company.

Harbin Measuring Tool Group acquired the equipment, technology and sales network of Shikai Company in Germany.

Technology of Shandong Yankuang Group's Acquisition of German Kaysers Toure Coke Plant

Shagang Group acquired complete sets of equipment from Dortmund Iron and Steel Plant in Germany, and dismantled them back to China.

Weichai Power acquired Kaio.