Germany blocks Chinese buyout of aerospace group Cotesa

Berlin has paused the takeover of a small German aerospace company by a Chinese state-run enterprise, the first time that the German government has used its enhanced powers to block foreign acquisitions in strategic sectors of the economy, the Financial Times reports.

Cotesa, whose clients include aircraft makers Airbus and Boeing, was going to be acquired by a subsidiary of the China Iron & Steel Research Institute Group for a price German media reported at between 100m and 200m euros. But Germany has now put the transaction on hold pending further investigations.

A government spokesman confirmed it was going “to check whether it complies with Germany’s law on foreign trade”. Berlin expanded its powers to stop overseas groups acquiring German companies in 2017 amid creeping concerns about the scale of Chinese M&A activity in Germany’s high-tech sector.