GERMANY plans

a stateowned fund to protect key firms from hostile foreign takeovers.

The move is a response to a flood of investment by Chinese state-owned companies into critical infrastructure and high-tech firms across the West, which has unnerved many European governments.

Senior officials in the German government said the fund would work with the private sector to buy stakes in companies that were targets of unwelcome takeover attempts.

It comes after Germany was left rattled by a 2016 Chinese raid on robotics firm Kuka. It also saw off an attempt by China’s State Grid last year to buy into power network operator 50Hertz, with state-owned bank KfW stepping in to buy a 20pc stake instead.