[photopress:schwerin_parchim.jpg,full,alignright]This is an odd story. LinkGlobal Logistics, a private logistics services provider based in Beijing, has completed an agreement to buy a 100% stake in Germany’s Schwerin-Parchim Airport.
The Zhenzhou Daily, based in the capital city of the central province of Henan, quoted LinkGlobal Logistics founder and chairman Pang Yuliang as saying that the company will pay about RMB1 billion for the airport in Schwerin, which is located between Hamburg and Berlin.
According to the report the logistics firm bought the airport in an auction held earlier this month and won permanent rights to operate it.
LinkGlobal Logistics is now seeking an airport management firm to manage Schwerin-Parchim and expects carriers calling at the airport to include flights from China.
It is said to be the first time a Chinese company has wholly owned a European airport.
Pang Yuliang, chairman of the board of LinkGlobal Logistics, outbid ten other global competitors, including FedEx, Hamburg Airport, and Emirates Airline, in an international tender.
Pang Yuliang told Economic Daily News: ‘China’s vast logistics market has attracted Germany which expects to boost its economy through cooperation with Chinese enterprises.
‘The demand of Chinese enterprises for logistic services to Europe is also huge. If we have our own airport in Europe, transport costs will be reduced greatly.’
The purchase will help Pang Yuliang further expand the logistics network of LinkGlobal, a Beijing-based company. It has a network covering more than 200 cities in China and about 90 countries worldwide.
How will Pang Yuliang pay the RMB1 billion? He told Economic Daily News that a Nigerian bank will vouch for his company, and no domestic banks are involved.
Source: People’s Daily Online
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