China Investment Corporation, China’s sovereign wealth fund, has teamed up with France’s biggest bank and private equity group to create a €1bn-€1.5bn fund to back continental European companies that want to expand into China.
CIC announced the creation of a fund with BNP Paribas and Eurazeo on Monday to coincide with an official visit to Paris by China’s president Xi Jinping, where he was welcomed by French president Emmanuel Macron.
The move comes as concern is growing among European political and business leaders about the competitive threat to the continent’s top companies from Chinese rivals, boosted by restrictions on foreign groups’ access to the Chinese market.