Private power

Hard facts

Private entrepreneurs are a relatively new breed in China and perhaps the ones who are most symbolic of the nation's current economic resurgence. Private companies began to be officially encouraged in China after the reform and opening-up and have since been slowly gaining in scale and reach.

According to the list of China's top 500 private enterprises in 2012, released by the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce in August, the revenue of the top 500 private enterprises in China was about 9.3 trillion yuan ($1.5 trillion; 1.1 trillion euros) last year, a 33 percent year-on-year growth. Total assets amounted to 7.8 trillion yuan, 32 percent more compared with 2010.

Though these figures represent growth and robustness, amid a solid national economy, there are some pressure points that may prove troublesome for growth in the future.

Aside of the general prejudices against Chinese firms in the Western markets, private enterprises have also been suffering because of their relatively weak global management capabilities and lack of innovation.

Indeed, there is no doubt that many private companies have accelerated their overseas activities in the past few years, with a view to raise their profile in the international markets.

"Some private enterprises have successfully acquired leading global brands, such as Lenovo purchasing IBM's PC business and Geely acquiring Volvo's vehicle unit. These cases have demonstrated the strong desire of capable Chinese private companies to make global strides," Lu says.

In September this year, Dalian Wanda completed the $2.6 billion (2 billion euros) acquisition of US cinema chain AMC Entertainment, making it one of the most successful overseas deals by a Chinese private business.

According to company officials, the AMC deal has helped boost the culture and travel business of Wanda Group. Wang Jianlin, chairman of Wanda, in April mentioned that the group was expecting revenue from the culture and travel business to surpass 20 billion yuan this year.

"We are expecting a revenue of more than 40 billion from the culture industry in the next five years and be ranked among the top 50 culture firms globally."

In Europe, eyebrows were raised when Sany, China's largest machinery manufacturer, acquired a 90 percent stake in German concreting machinery maker Putzmeister for 324 million euros in January.

Putzmeister had a 40 percent share of the global concrete machinery market in 2010 and nearly 90 percent of its sales came from overseas markets, according to Yengst Associates, an American market research group.

During the first six months of this year, 117 merger and acquisition deals worth about $30 billion were conducted by Chinese companies in overseas markets, according to information provided by the Ministry of Commerce.

Ouyang Xiaoming, deputy secretary-general of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, says among the top 500 private Chinese companies, 150 have invested overseas, with a total investment volume of $12.35 billion, a 99.9 percent increase year-on-year.

According to the Internationalization of Chinese Enterprises Index 2012 released by China Entrepreneur magazine in the World Economic Forum held in Tianjin in September, this year has been a major milestone for Chinese businesses in the overseas markets due to the appreciation of the yuan and favorable government policies.

But going overseas has not always been easy for many Chinese companies.