Deal pipeline running hot

By owning a 40 percent stake of PVI Group, the Chinese company gained the core technology for producing electric buses for public transport. Meanwhile, the partnership helped the French company gain necessary capital to fund expansion and access to the Chinese market for electric buses.

Limido says similar opportunities exist in the French sports industry. He cites the role his organization is playing in helping AJ Auxerre, a football club, get a potential Chinese investor.

Chinese investors, Limido says, should pursue more investments in small and medium-sized French companies as they "have good and profitable business models but are often short of financial and human resources to expand to a far-away market".

The French government has formulated a series of favorable policies to facilitate greater foreign investment to the country with a goal of realizing 1,000 investment decisions and creating 300 new companies by 2017 under its national competitiveness pact.

In 2012, France was the largest recipient of job-creating investment from China, attracting 21 percent of Chinese projects in Europe, according to the Invest in France Agency, a French government body that facilitates foreign investment in the country.

Limido says that acquiring high-end technology will continue to drive China's investment in France.

Limido also says the Shanghai free trade zone will attract investment attention from several French companies.

"It shows how seriously the Chinese authorities are taking the issue of helping foreign investment to establish and succeed in China," he says.