Senior official urges Chinese companies to pursue cheap acquisitions in the Eurozone

A leading Chinese official has encouraged the country’s cash-rich companies to pursue cheap take-over opportunities abroad, pointing in particular to the easy pickings on offer in the troubled Eurozone.

Caixin reports that Long Guoiang, the head of the foreign economic research department of China’s State Council, said at an economic forum over the weekend that Chinese companies should actively take advantage of the “rare and historic opportunities” provided by the West’s financial crises to obtain technology, R&D capability and prominent brands via buy-outs.

Long pointed specifically to the Eurozone, urging Chinese companies to purchase “high-end productive factors” in the region and noting that North American corporations began acquiring business interests on the other side of the the Atlantic during the first half of 2012.

Long also noted that the cheap acquisition opportunities left in the wake of the Great Financial Crisis are not devoid of risk, and that commodities were the one area where prices have yet to fall significantly.