‘Treat us as a family’, Chinese investors telling US

NEW YORK — One can hardly tell what a New York high-rise building has to do with Fosun, one of China’s largest private companies, until arriving at the 40-floor skyscraper on 28 Liberty Street in downtown Manhattan’s Financial District.

The Chinese investment company bought the office building, formerly named One Chase Manhattan Plaza, from JPMorgan in October 2013 for $725 million. However, the renovation of the plaza helped Chinese investors understand better the ways of doing business in the US.

“There is actually a story about it,” said Kate Zhao, director of the marketing & corporate communications of the Fosun Group.

“It is a landmark building, and we need to meet the requirements set out by US authorities in its renaming and renovation,” said Zhao.

“Any changes to the facade of the building are prohibited, and many local families who have lived here for generations do not like too many changes either,” she told Xinhua.

The acquisition of the skyscraper demonstrates the fact that following rules is a must for foreign investors.

“In the United States, you have to understand and respect the rules and play by the rules,” Zhao said.

“Playing by the rules” is one of the major factors that have attracted Chinese companies to increase their investment here. Others include robust economic outlook, the large consumer end market and large base of technology and brand assets.

Fosun has made a total investment of $3 billion in the United States since 2012, supporting about 8,000 local jobs.

A new report jointly released by the Rhodium Group and the National Committee on US-China Relations (NCUSCR) shows Chinese companies invested a record $46 billion in the United States in 2016, a tenfold increase compared to just five years ago.

As Chinese companies expand rapidly in the United States, long-term challenges and concerns remain for Chinese investors even though they are getting more and more adapted to the American ways of doing business.

The US trade protectionism, the rising labor costs, biases, and the lack of transparency of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US (CFIUS) review process continued to pose threats to Chinese investment, said the China General Chamber of Commerce-USA (CGCC) in its 2016 annual Survey Report on Chinese Enterprises in the United States.