Germany Trade & Invest’s FDI Reports

• Report summary
• Key findings
• Charts

Report summary

The 2020 figures were down nine percent compared to 2019. But the decline is anything but surprising considering the global coronavirus crisis. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) predicted that foreign business investments would decline by fifteen percent within the EU, so nine percent is ultimately positive news.

American businesses led the way with 254 projects in Germany, followed by Switzerland (219) and China (170). Germany is also becoming more and more attractive as a business location for e-mobility companies, with major expansions by US carmaker Tesla and Chinese battery producer SVOLT. Other popular sectors for projects were ICT and software (19 percent), business and financial services (17 percent), consumer goods (ten percent) and machinery manufacturing (nine percent).

Read the 2020 GTAI FDI report press release.

Key findings

• Germany’s federal states registered 1,684 FDI projects (greenfield, expansions, relocations, but excluding M&A) in 2020 - a nine percent decrease compared to the previous year.
• Additionally, 372 M&A transactions were recorded in which foreign investors purchased more than 50 percent of shares.
• The US led all countries in greenfield projects with 254, while the EU was the leading source region.
• Foreign companies preferred investments in the ICT and communications sector, followed by business and financial services.
• 19 percent of these companies use Germany as a production or R&D location.

Charts

Download the 2020 GTAI FDI report

• Report summary
• Key findings
• Charts

Report summary

The number of foreign companies that came to Germany last year declined by around ten percent from the 2018 record of 1,851. But Germany profited more from their presence, significantly increasing jobs created from 24,000 (2018) to 42,000 (2019). 

“Thanks to successes in attracting foreign investors like Tesla last year, we demonstrated that as a business location Germany is among the absolute world leaders and is able to persuade people internationally,” said German Minister of Economic Affairs and Energy Peter Altmaier.

Read the 2019 GTAI FDI report press release.

Key findings

• The greatest number of foreign investment projects in 2019, 302, came from the United States, followed by 185 from Britain, 184 from Switzerland and 154 from China.
• Additionally, 419 M&A transactions were recorded which involved foreign investors buying up more than 50 percent of shares.
• The US led the way in terms of greenfield projects with 302, while most of the new facilities were from the EU.
• The greatest number of investors came from the ICT sector, followed by business and financial services and consumer goods.
• The amount of money invested rose from EU 4.8 billion in 2018 to EUR 5.1 billion in 2019.
• 19 percent of the companies use Germany as a production or R&D location.

Charts

Download the 2019 GTAI FDI report

• Report summary
• Key findings
• Charts

Report summary

The EU is the most important source of Greenfield and expansion projects in Germany. The US holds its position as the top investor country leading the way with 345 investment projects – also a new record. The Americans were followed by Switzerland (229 projects), China (188) and the UK (168).

The number of British firms established in Germany since the Brexit referendum (2016-2018) has risen by 34 percent. Meanwhile the number of new Chinese companies in Germany fell by 33 percent compared to the same period (2016–2018). The number of mergers and acquisitions (M&As) also went up, from 1,925 in 2017 to 2,825 in 2018 – an increase of more than 47 percent.

Read the 2018 GTAI FDI report press release.

Key findings

• Altogether, Germany‘s federal states registered a record of 2,062 settlement projects (greenfields, expansions, relocations, not M&A) in 2018.
• Additionally, foreign companies in Germany registered 2,852 M&A transactions, 497 of which involved foreign investors buying up more than 50 percent of shares.
• The US led the way in terms of greenfield projects with 345, while most of the new facilities (more than 40 percent) were from the EU.
• The most popular sectors last year were business and financial services, followed by IT, communications and software, consumer goods, and machine and parts manufacturing.
• Roughly a third of foreign companies concentrated on marketing and distribution while 17 percent used Germany as a location for production and R&D.
• In a poll conducted by Germany Trade & Invest 45 percent of British firms said that Brexit had influenced their decision to invest in Germany.

Charts

Download the 2018 GTAI FDI report

• Report summary
• Key findings
• Charts

Report summary

The number of projects coming from the UK has increased noticeably in 2017. Currently, the large share of these projects involves service offices opening, but it will be interesting to see whether production facilities are subsequently set up. Also notable was that the UK was the largest source of merger, acquisition and shareholding investment. The volume of enquiries to GTAI from the UK has also risen sharply. 

“We are convinced that this increase in British FDI activity is a direct consequence of the Brexit decision,” said Thomas Bozoyan, Manager of Research at GTAI. He noted that this would be part of a larger trend, which has seen British FDI across Europe increase by 33 percent. Financial services and ICT are the main recipient industries of the investments, but the shareholding acquisition of British companies and investors in German companies has also increased sharply, which adds to the impression that this is a strategy to deal with Brexit.

Key findings

• Altogether, Germany‘s federal states registered 1,910 settlement projects (greenfields, expansions, relocations, not M&A) in 2017 which are set to create around 29,000 jobs in Germany overall.
• Additionally, 1,925 M&A transactions were registered by foreign companies in Germany.
• The US led the way in terms of greenfield projects with 276, while most of the new facilities (more than 40 percent) were from the EU. China registered 218, Switzerland 204, the UK 152, the Netherlands 124 and France 95.
• Foreign investors tend to prefer investing in corporate and financial services. They represent about 20 percent of all new projects, ahead of ICT & software with 16 percent and consumer goods industry at 10 percent.
• The most popular activity remains the opening of sales and marketing offices (39 percent). Production and R&D represent 19 percent while business services account for 18 percent of all investment projects.
• The most important investment project source region for Germany remains the EU, from whose member states 41 percent of all investment projects originate, while China’s influence means that a shade under 25 percent of the investment projects come from Asia.
• Germany is, with 18 percent of all British FDI in Europe, the most popular investment destination for British investments.

Charts

Download the 2017 GTAI FDI report