Foreign takeovers across Germany
Ever more acquisitions of German companies as foreign investors – Chinese, Indian, Polish, Czech – take advantage of a deep economic crisis and record SME insolvencies.
BERLIN (own report) – The economic crisis in Germany is enabling a growing number of takeovers of German companies by foreign investors. On the one hand, Germany’s major corporations are in trouble while, on the other, industry is currently facing a wave of insolvencies above all among once resilient Mittelstand, the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Just recently, the plastics and chemicals group Covestro became the first DAX-listed company to be swallowed up by a corporation from the Gulf States. Adnoc, from the United Arab Emirates, made its move back in October 2024. Among others, Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com is currently securing a majority stake in German electronics retailer Ceconomy (Media Markt, Saturn). JD.com has taken control in order to compete with Amazon and Alibaba in European markets. Chinese sports brand Anta Sports Products is considering the acquisition of Germany’s legacy brand Puma. Meanwhile, talks are continuing about the possible takeover of ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe (TKSE), Germany’s largest steel manufacturer, by the Indian steel giant Jindal Steel International. Czech and Polish investors are also emerging as buyers, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises. A growing number of German SMEs are threatened with bankruptcy. Germany has become the main target in the EU for foreign takeovers.
Chinese investors
Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com has secured a majority stake of around 59.8 per cent in German electronics retailer Ceconomy, whose business include the Media Markt and Saturn electronics store chains.[1] Ceconomy’s market capitalisation currently stands at around 2.2 billion euros. Recent figures show the company generated sales of 22.4 billion euros in the year up to September 2024 and employs more than 50,000 people. JD.com and its future partner Convergenta will jointly hold 85.2 per cent of Ceconomy. The acquisition gives JD.com access to over a thousand stores and enables the Chinese group to expand its European business in competition with Alibaba and Amazon. Ceconomy CEO Kai-Ulrich Deissner commented optimistically that, with JD.com’s logistics, “we can further accelerate our successful growth trajectory.” The transaction is still subject to regulatory approval and is expected to close early next year.[2] This is not the only Chinese takeover plan for a large German company. Chinese sporting goods manufacturer Anta Sports Products is currently considering a takeover of the high-profile German sports brand Puma.[3] The market valuation of the company, which has more than 22,000 employees and most recently generated sales of 8.8 billion euros, has been cut by half, down to 2.52 billion since the beginning of the year.
Indian buyers
Takeovers by Chinese corporations are often highlighted as a concern by politicians and in the media, but they do not play a dominant role. Indian steel giant Jindal Steel International is planning to buy ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe (TKSE), Germany’s largest steelmaker. The Indians hope for political support in the acquisition talks.[4] Narendra Kumar Misra, director of European operations at Jindal Steel International, said last Friday that further government subsidies in Europe were “an important aspect of our strategy” with regard to the planned TKSE buyout. At the beginning of September, Jindal Steel submitted a non-binding offer for TKSE and promised investments of two billion euros. Just last year, ThyssenKrupp sold a 20 per cent stake in TKSE to Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínský with the aim of divesting another 30 per cent of shares.[5] The plan did not work out. ThyssenKrupp has been trying to sell off its steel business for years. Back in 2019, the EU Commission had competition concerns and prohibited a joint venture between ThyssenKrupp and another Indian steel giant, Tata Steel.[6] Tata had already entered the European steel sector earlier when it acquired the Anglo-Dutch group Corus for twelve billion dollars in April 2007, becoming one of the largest steel producers in the world.[7]
East European investors
Lately, mergers and acquisitions in Germany backed by Czech and Polish investors have also been on the rise. These are currently in small and medium-sized enterprise sector, for the most part. Again, the phenomenon is not entirely new. The Czech group Agrofert, for example, had acquired SKW Stickstoffwerke Piesteritz and the bakery products manufacturer Lieken years ago. Agrofert belonged until recently to the new Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš. According to data released by the Deutsche Bundesbank in October, Czech investment in Germany rose by almost 30 per cent to nearly five billion euros in 2023.[8] At the beginning of this year, for example, Czech fruit brandy producer R. Jelínek acquired a 52 per cent majority stake in Berlin’s largest craft distillery, BLN, giving it access to major food store chains such as REWE and Edeka. Petr Minárech, CEO of the newly named R. Jelinek Deutschland GmbH, commented, “When we started working together, Jelínek was in about three or four stores. Now there are hundreds.”[9] At the same time, the number of Polish acquisitions rose from two in 2024 to six this year. For example, the Polish cloud and Internet of Things company Transitional Technologies PSC acquired 100 per cent of the shares in the German data analysis specialist x-Info Wieland Sacher GmbH at the beginning of this year.[10] According to Szymon Bartkowiak, managing director of TT PSC, the company has since been flooded with new orders.
Rising insolvencies
The main reason for Czech and Polish investment in Germany is the growing wave of insolvencies, particularly among the struggling SMEs of the Mittelstand. SMEs generate around half of Germany’s economic output, account for almost 60 per cent of jobs and make up around 99 per cent of all businesses in Germany. The number of corporate insolvencies in Germany had, in fact, already reached its highest level in ten years in the first half of 2025. The figure of 11,900 failures is 9.4 per cent more than in the same period last year.[11] For the year as a whole, the credit agency Creditreform expects to see some 23,900 – the highest number since 2014.[12] This opens up an opportunity for Czech and Polish companies with strong liquidity that want to gain a foothold in the German market, especially in the areas of manufacturing and logistics. Targets include export-oriented companies. “Today, Germany is comparatively cheaper, which increases the attractiveness of assets for foreign buyers, including those from Poland,” Łukasz Chrabański, head of the Polish Investment and Trade Agency, tells Reuters.
Targeting Germany
There has been a clear upswing in the numbers of foreign businesses taking over German companies and engaging in internal mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in recent years. According to the London Stock Exchange Group, foreign investors were involved in German M&A transactions totalling 111 billion dollars in the first nine months of 2024. This represents an increase of 39 per cent over the same period last year.[13] According to KPMG’s ‘M&A Outlook 2025’, a total of around 65 per cent of companies initiated and completed more mergers in 2024 than in the previous year.[14] Within Europe, Germany remains the most popular destination for foreign acquisitions. According to a recent report by the European Commission, the German economy accounted for 21 per cent (412 transactions) of foreign acquisitions in Europe in 2024, representing the highest share in the EU.[15] It is German manufacturing that attracts the greatest foreign interest. According to a study by KfW, 33.4 per cent of acquisitions between 2020 and 2023 were in this sector, followed by information and communication technology companies with a share of 27.6 per cent.
[1] Chinesischer Tech-Gigant JD.com bei Media Markt/Saturn am Ziel. handelsblatt.com 02.12.2025.
[2] JD.com successfully secures 59,8% of CECONOMY as final result after end of additonal acceptance period. tradingview.com 02.12.2025.
[3] Kane Wu: China’s Anta Sports and Li Ning exploring bid for Puma, source says. reuters.com 28.11.2025.
[4] Melanie Bergermann, Florian Güßgen: Kaufinteressent für ThyssenKrupps Stahlsparte setzt auf Fördermittel. wiwo.de 05.12.2025.
[5] Christoph Steitz, Tom Käckenhoff: Thyssenkrupp get non-binding bid for steel unit from Jindal Steel International. reuters.com 16.11.2025.
[6] Mergers: Commission prohibits proposed merger between Tata Steel and ThyssenKrupp. ec.europa.eu 11.06.2019.
[7] Dan Lalor, Devidutta Tripathy: Tata Steel wins Corus for $12 billion. reuters.com 09.08.2007.
[8] Michael Kahn, Anna Koper: Czech, Polish firms snap up German Mittelstand bargains. reuters.com 23.10.2025.
[9] Why Czech companies are buying up Germany’s struggling firms. expats.cz 04.11.2025.
[10] Svenja Kratz: Transition Technologies PSC Germany acquires X-Info Wieland Sacher GmbH and focuses on growth through synergies. ttpsc.com 16.11.2025.
[11] German corporate insolvencies at highest level in a decade, study shows. reuters.com 26.06.2025.
[12] Ingo Nathusius: Die große Pleite. tagesschau.de 08.12.2025.
[13] Economic Watch: Foreign investors ramp up acquisitions as German economy faces recession. english.news.cn 07.11.2024.
[14] More deals expected: German M&A market expects a return to success in 2025. kpmg.com 06.12.2024.
[15] Fifth Annual Report on the screening of foreign direct investments into the Union (2025). European Commission 14.10.2025.
