Why is China's engineering machinery company keen to overseas mergers and acquisitions?

China's construction machinery companies are continuing to set off a global merger and acquisition climax in the field of machinery. Following the end of January, Sany Heavy Industry Group (hereinafter referred to as Sany Heavy Industry) spent 2.7 billion yuan to acquire the German company Putzmeister, Guangxi Liugong Machinery Co., Ltd., Liugong also said later, also announced that it would spend 335 million yuan. Acquired the construction machinery business unit of Polish construction machinery company HSW. In the same period, there is news that another giant Xugong Machinery will also acquire the German company Schwing, a giant in the construction machinery industry.

Experts concerned said that if the above mergers and acquisitions can be successfully completed, it will have a substantial effect on expanding the overseas influence of China's construction machinery enterprises' brand, absorbing the advanced technology of foreign construction machinery companies, and improving the quality of Chinese products. Compared with overseas mergers and acquisitions where the communications and automotive industries have lost their lives, China’s construction machinery companies’ M&A roads have been relatively smooth. In recent years, while expanding overseas markets, China’s construction machinery companies have also strengthened their overseas trademark and patent layout, laying the foundation for overseas mergers and acquisitions to proceed smoothly.

M & A target locks up intellectual property Compared with the European construction machinery industry, China's construction machinery industry has a relatively short development time. The XCMG Group, Zoomlion, and Sany Heavy Industry, which are among the top in the country, were established in the 1990s. Compared with its acquisition targets, such as Shi Weiying established in 1934 and Putzmeister established in 1958, there is still a certain gap in terms of brand influence, technical strength, and international sales network. Therefore, relevant parties believe that if mergers and acquisitions are completed, the brand, patents, and sales channels of these established companies can accelerate the progress of China's construction machinery companies to the international market.

In 2008, Zoomlion had achieved its goal of entering the global market with EUR 271 million in the acquisition of CIFA, the leading global concrete equipment company and Italian company. At the beginning of the merger and acquisition, Zoomlion established the strategy of “implementing the dual-brand strategy and also considering the introduction of CIFA products into the domestic market to meet the needs of high-end customers”. Zhan Chunxin, chairman and CEO of Zoomlion, said that Zoomlion acquired CIFA and won the world's top industry technology. The most typical is the arm of carbon fiber pump truck. Its core technology has patents in more than 100 countries around the world. . According to reports, a series of patented products such as the 63-meter pump truck and the 80-meter carbon fiber boom pump truck independently developed by CIFA's technology were successfully rolled out last year.

Coincidentally, this time, Sany Heavy Industries chose a similar strategy for Putzmeister's acquisition: Putzmeister continued to maintain its independence of operations, and Sany Heavy Industries will focus on doing business in China. Putzmeister will Continue to participate in market expansion with the original brand. In this way, Germany will become Sany Heavy Industry's new headquarters for concrete machinery products outside China. Experts pointed out that this strategy reflects the reliance of Sany Heavy Industry on Putzmeister's original intellectual property assets such as trademarks and patents.

Extending the brand to promote the development of the company From CIFA to Putzmeister and then to Shi Weiying, in terms of the output value of the book, if a series of mergers and acquisitions by Chinese companies were successfully completed in the near future, the world's concrete engineering machinery will be at the forefront. Home companies will be included in Chinese companies' pockets. Feng Xiaoqing, a professor from the Intellectual Property Law Institute of the China University of Political Science and Law, said in an interview with a reporter from the China Intellectual Property News that the emergence of this series of mergers and acquisitions reflected that the overseas expansion capabilities and independent innovation capabilities of China's construction machinery companies have been greatly enhanced. Promote.

In recent years, the rapid development of China's construction machinery companies has moved from the domestic market to foreign countries. This is inseparable from the importance of the company's intellectual property rights.

According to reports, “Products not moving, trademarks first” has always been a foreign trademark protection strategy pursued by Zoomlion. In 2007, Zoomlion began the protection of trademark registration worldwide. As of now, Zoomlion has successfully registered Chinese and English trademarks in more than 120 countries and regions. In addition, Zoomlion also lasted for four years, successfully recaptured 10 registered trademarks from six countries including Argentina, Syria, Chile, Mexico, Ukraine, and Indonesia, thus clearing the way for companies to enter overseas markets.

Similarly, the role of patents can not be ignored. In recent years, the awareness of intellectual property rights in China's construction machinery enterprises has increased, and the number of patent applications has increased year by year. Zoomlion submitted more than 200 domestic and foreign patent applications in 2009, and submitted more than 1,600 patent applications in 2011, which is 8 times that in 2009; in addition, the number of patent applications filed by Sany Heavy Industry in recent years It has also maintained a growth rate of around 50%. Up till now, Sany Heavy Industry has submitted 4141 domestic and foreign patent applications and has 2,457 authorized patents, ranking the first in the industry.

Feng Xiaoqing believes that when foreign companies, especially multinational corporations, continue to acquire national brands in China through their advantages in brand and intellectual property, some of the enterprises with intellectual property advantages in China can also use their own advantages to implement brand acquisition strategies. Reference to the growth road of many multinational corporations is an example of the brand expansion guide. China should encourage powerful companies to go abroad to buy foreign brands.