Reuters – Fosun International Partners with Axcel

Chinese investment company Fosun International is to form a strategic partnership with the Danish private equity investment firm Axcel to identify business opportunities in China and Europe, Reuters reported Thursday. The partnership agreement will be signed on Friday during a visit to Denmark by Chinese President Hu Jintao, Axcel said on Thursday – one of many Sino-Danish deals set to be rubberstamped.

(Reuters) – Chinese investment company Fosun International is to form a strategic partnership with the Danish private equity investment firm Axcel to identify business opportunities in China and Europe.

The partnership agreement will be signed on Friday during a visit to Denmark by Chinese President Hu Jintao, Axcel said on Thursday – one of many Sino-Danish deals set to be rubberstamped.

The collaboration will combine Fosun’s expertise in identifying growth opportunities in China and its earlier investments in Europe with Axcel’s track record in private equity investments in Europe, Fosun chief executive Liang Xinjun said in a statement

Axcel managing partner Christian Frigast said that Fosun could be an important facilitator for Axcel on the Chinese market and could advise Axcel when the companies in which it invests enter the Chinese market.

“Fosun has expressed interest in being a future co-investor with Axcel regarding companies with exposure to the Chinese market and can also help us with our existing companies,” Frigast said.

The Danish minister for trade and investment, Pia Olsen Dyhr, said in the statement that Danish industries, such as biotech and green technology, had already attracted Fosun’s attention and she hoped the new partnership would lead to investments in Denmark.

Other deals flagged this week and expected to be finalised on Friday include tie-ups with Danish brewer Carlsberg and shipping and oil group A.P. Moller-Maersk , as well as a manufacturing plant sale by wind turbine maker Vestas Wind Systems.

The foreign ministry said in a separate statement that its Invest in Denmark unit would sign co-operation deals with Chinese white goods maker Xunda Tech, wind turbine maker CSIC (Chongqing) Haizhuang Windpower Equipment and China Development Bank. (Reporting by John Acher; Editing by David Goodman)