The Pan-Nordic & DACH Innovation & Investment Roadshow in China 2018 was co-hosted by Invest in Finland, Invest in Denmark, Business Sweden, Helsinki Business Hub, Invest Stockholm, Advantage Austria, and Swissnex.
This road show was held in Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Kunshan during 17-21 September, focusing on advanced manufacturing, industrial automation and clean energy sectors. The co-host organizations altogether brought 15 innovative companies (or their investors) from Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Austria and Switzerland. These, in seeking potential investment and business partnership opportunities, got to present themselves in front of the leading Chinese strategic and financial investors.
The advisory firm Nordic Match co-participated in this inaugural investment road show in China.
Mr. JarnoSyrjälä, the Ambassador of Finland to China, held the opening speech at the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, describing the strong innovation power from the Nordics and praising how the positive dialogues can translate into significant values for the two regions, reported Nordic Match.
“The Nordics is one of the world-leaders in industrial automation and clean energy whereas China, with its ‘Made in China 2025’ agenda, provides unique opportunities for both parties to create immense synergies, by applying cutting-edge technologies from the Nordics into the Chinese market. Moving forward, the focus is to materialize the dialogues into concrete actions. Nordic Match aims to become the long-term speaking partner to growing Nordic companies looking for market access and expansion capital in China and vice versa,” said Tony Wang, partner of Nordic Match
More than 500 Chinese cross-border investors and partners participated in the event. Participants gave highly positive feedback and it is believed that many of the Nordic technologies that were presented at the road show are well-positioned for the Chinese market and investors.
Nordic Match is a boutique M&A and Strategy Advisor headquartered in Shanghai, China. Dedicated to Sino-Nordic transactions, it supports aspiring corporations and investors in search for value-creating opportunities between Nordics and China.
In Shenzhen and Shanghai the large-scale road show type attracted investors mainly from Chinese public listed companies and the investment funds with interests/track records in related industries.
In Guangzhou and Kunshan the small scale road show’s investor participants were mainly from local listed companies/strategic investors and the leading fund investors prioritized in relevant industry.
Based on previous experience, the maturity of Nordic companies is critical to their popularity and consequent success in China investment market. Early-stage overseas portfolios are difficult to survive in Chinese market if they enter too early. The co-host sister missions, together with the local partners filtered (based on the specific factors) the participating companies and provided pitching training when encountering Chinese investors.
Previous track records and successes were also mentioned: Invest in Finland (affiliated to Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment of Finland) Great China team, working together with IIF Growth Capital Team, has successfully organized three Finland Tech Roadshows (2014, 2016, 2017) during the past four years. Over 50 Finnish companies joined their events and were connected with Chinese investors. Seven of road show participant companies have received major investment from Chinese investors. Taking the road show in November 2017 as an example, they brought 14 Finnish companies to Shanghai and attracted 251 domestic investors showed up at the event. During the past four years, IIF-China team have led or supported in total over 30 investment deals coming from Great China market to Finland.
Sources: Nordic Match, Business Finland
