Employees as key assets in transactions involving Chinese investors

Employees as key assets in tran­sac­tions invol­ving Chinese investors

Chinese inves­tors regu­larly high­light the employees of a company to be acqui­red as key assets in the run-up to a tran­sac­tion. In addi­tion to gene­ral conside­ra­ti­ons such as know­ledge of exis­ting busi­ness rela­ti­onships of the target company, inter­nal busi­ness proces­ses and company-speci­­fic know-how, the expe­ri­ence and fami­lia­rity of the senior staff with the busi­ness prac­ti­ces of the local market are of primary importance to inves­tors, not least due to signi­fi­cant diffe­ren­ces in corpo­rate culture between Chinese and German companies. 

Despite this realiza­tion, the methods of retai­ning senior employees in the medium to long term are often not compa­ti­ble with German market prac­tice and the expec­ta­ti­ons of aspi­ring medium-sized compa­nies. Although the profes­sio­na­lism of Chinese inves­tors is steadily incre­asing and they are incre­asingly better prepared for the chal­lenges of post-merger inte­gra­tion, there is still often untap­ped poten­tial for impro­ve­ment in employee share owner­ship adapted to the German market.