投英 Tou Ying Tracker 2017

The latest trends in Chinese investment in the UK


"The Grant Thornton Tou Ying Tracker (Tou Ying means invest in the UK) developed in collaboration with China Daily, which identifies the top 25 fastest-growing Chinese companies in the UK as measured by percentage revenue growth year-on-year, based on the latest published accounts, and provides a unique insight into the business activities, locations and performance of those companies."


This is the fifth edition of the Grant Thornton Tou Ying Tracker, which identifies the fastest growing Chinese companies in the UK. Since we published the first Tracker five years ago, Chinese investment has driven growth and created jobs in many sectors, helping to shape a vibrant economy across the UK. The 30 companies in this year’s Tracker have a combined turnover of over £11 billion and employ more than 5,000 people.

Once again, we have divided investors into two categories: state-owned enterprises (SOE) and private companies. Private companies continue to play a growing role in the story of Chinese investment in the UK. A £1.4 billion investment by Ctrip, the Chinese travel services company, to acquire Skyscanner is one of the stand-out deals in this year’s private-company category.

The SOEs, for their part, continue to make major investments and achieve impressive growth. The China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) is the fastest-growing company in the 2017 Tracker, with growth in revenue of 809%, while several other SOEs, including China Mobile International (UK) Ltd and COFCO (UK) Ltd also achieved triple-digit growth.

Since its launch in 2013, the Chinese government’s Belt and Road Initiative has formed the backdrop for Chinese outbound investment. The UK’s location at the very end of the new ‘Silk Road’ has helped to bring some of this to the UK. At the G20 Hangzhou Summit in September 2016, President Xi Jinping and the UK Prime Minister, Theresa May, reaffirmed their shared commitment to continuing to make the next decade a ‘Golden Era’ for trade and co-operation between the two countries.

The Tou Ying Tracker celebrates the success of individual companies investing in the UK. Special congratulations are due to a number of companies that have appeared in several editions of the Tracker. China Telecom (Europe) Ltd and China Unicom (Europe) Operations Ltd made the list of fastestgrowing companies for four years running, from 2013–2016.

Congratulations are due too to Agricultural Bank of China (UK) Ltd, Holroyd Precision Ltd, ICBC (London) plc and PetroChina International (London) Ltd, which each appeared in the Tracker three times between 2013 and 2016.

We congratulate all the Tou Ying Tracker companies on their outstanding contribution to the UK economy over the past five years. We look forward to tracking their role – and those of new Chinese investors who will help the UK forge a future as an outward-looking, global trading nation in the years ahead.


Please download the full report to get the details in Tou Ying Tracker 2017.




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