HWM Singapore – June 2019

If you still thinkChinesemadegoods

are inferiortothosemadeinthe

United StatesorEurope, it’stimefor

a rethink. Those“European” goods

might actuallybeChinese-made

afterall,thankstorecent

Chineseinvestmentsprees.

MADE IN

CHINA

By Marcus Wong Art Diection and

digital imaging by Ashruddin Sani

Metz, Hisense

Groenje, and

General Electric.

If you were asked

what these three

Western consumer electronics

brands had in common, how

many of you would have guessed

that they’re all now owned by

Chinese companies?

But it’s true.

Hisense upped their share of

Slovenia’s Groenje to over 95%

in May 2017, acquiring a massive

62.5% of the company to go with

the 33% stake it already held.

Likewise, Metz was acquired

by Skyworth in 2015, giving it

high-end consumer goods such as

washing machines, water puri ers

and air conditioners to go with its

stable of LED TVs.

As for Qingdao Haier, you

may know it to be a Chinese

refrigerator company, but did you

know they own General Electrics’

Appliances division? That in itself

is an interesting tale of reversal

of fortunes, as General Electric

once tried to takeover Haier in the

early nineties, only to have their

off er refused. (Haier later bought

over General Electrics’ Appliances

division in 2016 for US$ 5.6 billion.)

A

JUNE 2019 | HWM 47