Iconic American Companies Owned by Chinese Investors

Headquarters: Washington, D.C.
Bought By: China Investment Corp
Headquarters: Beijing, China

Back in 2012, EIG Global Energy Partners were the latest in a long line of companies gratefully receiving help from Chinese investors. China Investment Group acquired a minority stake in the Washington-based company. It’s not known how big the stake was purchased by the CIC, or how much they spent.

However, CIC is known for opening up its wallet when needed. Months before investing in EIG, it paid $240 million for 25% of South Africa’s Shanduka Group. The Group also holds shares in the UK company Thames Water which are likely worth between £600-700 million.

Headquarters: San Francisco, California
Bought By: Tencent
Headquarters: Shenzhen, China

Mobile phone games have been on the up and up for years now, ever since smartphones began to evolve. These days, everyone has a game in their pocket. Pocket Gems might be based in America’s tech capital of San Francisco, but it’s partially owned by Tencent, who operate from Shenzhen in China.

Although the company has been a stakeholder for quite some time, they upped their stake in 2017 and injected a further $90 million. As a result, the percentage owned by Tencent rocketed from 20% to around 38%. This bigger investment helped Pocket Gems improve their already popular games to no end.

Headquarters: Burbank, California
Bought By: Dalian Wanda Group
Headquarters: Beijing, China

After successfully purchasing AMC and testing the waters in the movie world, Dalian Wanda decided to up the ante in 2016 and purchase their very own movie studio. Legendary Entertainment Group signed over ownership to the investment group for a healthy $3.5 billion.

Dalian Wanda wanted to fully absorb LEG into its already existing portfolio of brands but instead decided to keep it operating as normal for the time being. Movies like Kong: Skull Island, Pacific Rim: Uprising, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, and Skyscraper have been made since the deal was made four years ago.

Headquarters: Corvallis, Oregon
Bought By: Planar Systems, Leyard Optoelectronic
Headquarters: Shenzhen, China

Optical tracking is a complex business, but thankfully for NaturalPoint Inc they know exactly what they’re doing. In 2016, they entered into a merger with Planar Systems. While Planar is operated in America, they’re owned by Shenzhen-based company Leyard.

$125 million exchanged hands, with both companies hoping to break boundaries in the virtual reality sector and beyond. “We believe these two companies will complement each other and create significant opportunities for growth,” explained Zach Zhang at the time. “This acquisition demonstrates our ongoing commitment to building capabilities in engineering, manufacturing, marketing, and sales in North America and internationally.”

Headquarters: West Chester, Ohio
Bought By: Goodbaby International
Headquarters: Kunshan, Suzhou, China

Infant feeding company Evenflo has been around since 1920, feeding the children of America as well as supplying goods to stores like Babies “R” Us and Walmart. In 2014, Kunshan-based company Goodbaby International added Evenflo to its extensive worldwide portfolio.

“We are delighted to welcome Evenflo into Goodbaby’s portfolio of brands. Together with CYBEX which we acquired earlier this year, we believe the addition of Evenflo will augment the Group’s product offering, and provide a strong platform for the Group in the overseas markets,” explained CEO Song Zhenghuan. He went on to say the deal was a “key step” in the group’s global business model.