China's companies to buy Western companies as never before. In BZ-interview, Michael Meding, head of the Neuchâtel M-Tec, about his experiences. M-Tec is one of the last two years Chinese.

Michael Meding feels comfortable under the umbrella of Chinese machinery manufacturer Zoomlion. The new owners from the Far East were very carefully to their German employees, says the head of the Neuchâtel machine manufacturer M-Tec. 

BZ: Mr. Meding, Neuchâtel Construction Brand M-Tec was taken over by the Chinese machine manufacturer Zoomlion two years ago. Must Südbaden fear that at M-Tec soon the lights? There is the opinion that the Chinese adopt Western companies transfer knowledge to China and then get out of it. 
Meding No. Of course, it was the objective of Zoomlion to obtain additional know-how and a strong brand name. But behind stuck not intend to bleed a German company. Rather Zoomlion wants to establish with the M-Tec in China in the dry mortar industry a new business. The company is looking like so many other companies from the Far East new growth markets. Here our knowledge helps. The other markets are, however, still served by Neuenburg. There were no transfers of posts. 

BZ: Have to German workers fear if their employer is taken over by the Chinese? 
Meding: not in the trend. There are exceptions, but generally buy Chinese companies for strategic reasons. Since it does not matter, the yield on short-term push up what is sometimes the intention of pure financial investors. Rather one wants to secure long-term growth potential. 

BZ: Why Zoomlion serves Western aid? The Chinese have the new division but can build itself. 
Meding: Zoomlion is the second largest construction equipment manufacturers in China. The focus is on the concrete processing. So large concrete pumps come on trucks or mobile cranes from Zoomlion. However, in the dry mortar sector, the company was not active. However, this is considered the market with great possibilities. With machines, dry mortar can significantly mix cheaper and better.Technology also helps to transport the mortar faster - which is an advantage, for example on construction sites, which are available in China abound. Instead of the know-how expensive over the years to develop itself, Zoomlion has been looking for a partner who is already familiar. 
BZ: Kam the takeover by the Chinese surprising or was it prepared long? 
Meding: It was ultimately the M-Tec itself, which gave the impetus. Zoomlion was a customer of ours. We went to our mother then French Saint-Gobain to stimulate a change. It seemed sensible to work under the umbrella of a machine builder as under a building materials manufacturer as Saint-Gobain. Its Paris headquarters saw the same. So it came to the exchange. 

BZ: Is the M-tec prescribed a radical austerity program after the takeover? 
Meding: No. On the contrary. It is very gentle to us. The value of M-tec is not in large-scale production, but in the knowledge of the employees, the Engineering.For issued Zoomlion money. From a good name you can only benefit if the company behind it continues to exist. In addition, we were very successful in the past year. 
BZ: The M-Tec acquisition is not an isolated case. Currently as never before buying Chinese companies a the west. How can this be explained? 
Meding: The Beijing government's goal is that the Chinese economy is of an extended workbench of the world become a manufacturer of high quality products. That's the master plan. Therefore supports the government those companies seeking acquisitions abroad. The economic slowdown in Germany is driving the Chinese companies abroad. Double-digit growth in Germany, with which a company could live very well, are no longer self-evident today. Many companies also lacks international recognition. The can be increased by purchasing good name in the West. This trend will intensify in the future. 

BZ: Previously, the M-Tec subsidiary of a French company, today it belongs to a major Chinese company. Become now made close to the Chinese leash? 
Meding: No, we have become free. While we need to keep our budget and meet targets, but there is no overarching organization that speaks in us in daily business. We can behave like a classic Südbadischer SMEs are on the market almost as independent. The second advantage is that we have with Zoomlion a mother who is like the M-Tec, a mechanical engineer. This facilitates understanding. 

BZ: The Chinese culture is Western Europeans not just close. What are the difficulties in the Sino-German cooperation? 
Meding: Problems are mainly the high turnover in Chinese companies. Contact in-house, with suppliers or customers often change very quickly. This complicates the work and takes time. In addition, many Chinese people do not like to act out of tradition on their own responsibility. It requires very precise and detailed instructions. That's pretty expensive. 

BZ: Everyone is talking about the weaker growth in China. There are doubts about whether China manages the transition from an investment-heavy economy to one based on innovation and consumer economics. What the M-Tec boss says that a month traveling to China once? 
Meding: I am convinced that China will cope with this transformation without crash landing. Take the example of Zoomlion: In order to become less dependent on the construction sector, the company relies on new business areas such as agricultural machinery or environmental. The conversion is therefore in full swing. Zoomlion is in China not an isolated case. 

BZ: China's economy suffers in sectors such as steel production under enormous overcapacity. Skeptics doubt that this is really reduced, especially since many of the companies concerned are owned by the state. 
Meding: It's no secret that there is excess capacity in the building and construction industry. The displaced not one, but to respond. The adjustment process has already begun. Productions can be reduced, and the number of jobs decreased. On the other hand, there are still many companies that grow and create new jobs. 

BZ: In China, housing prices have gone partially rapidly in height. Many new homes have been and are being built. not there a threat of price collapse with brutal consequences for the economy? 
Meding: You have to differentiate. As before, many Chinese want in the well-known centers such as Shanghai or Beijing. There, the newly created living space also applies to corresponding demand. In cities that are less attractive, the situation is different. There sometimes flowed too much money in housing, because the management wanted to emulate the great role models. In these cities, construction activity has decreased. Whether is a price collapse, I can not estimate.