This year for the first time we ranked the top 20 North American deals,
based on job creation and capex. In this expanded edition, we also
present the top 20 deals abroad.
“We’re used to black swans causing disruptions here and there,” writes
Mark Arend. “But a year after our last issue recognizing the Global Best
to Invest locations for capital investment, the world is a very
different place.”
A new report from Rhodium Group and the Mercator
Institute for China Studies (MERICS) summarizes China’s
investment footprint in the EU-27 and the United Kingdom in 2021, noting
a pronounced surge in Chinese venture capital investment into European
startups and that, “in 2021, greenfield investment reached €3.3 billion,
the highest ever recorded value, making up almost a third of all Chinese
FDI.” However, 2021 was the second lowest year (above only 2020) for
overall Chinese FDI in Europe since 2013, says the report. “Last year,
completed Chinese FDI in Europe increased 33% to €10.6 billion, from
€7.9 billion in 2020,” the report states, driven by the pronounced
greenfield influx and the acquisition of Philips’ home appliance
business by Hong Kong-based private equity firm Hillhouse Capital. That
takeover made the Netherlands the biggest destination for Chinese
investment in 2021. “Germany, France and the UK,” says the report,
“accounted for another 39% of total Chinese investment.”
Among the major Chinese corporate investment projects most recently
tracked in the EU and UK by Site Selection’s Conway Projects Database
are:
Shanghai Enjie New Material Technology’s $214 million, 440-job
aluminum products plant in Debrecen, Hungary (the same city where
South Korean firm EcoPro BM’s battery cathode plant was among our
Top International Deals of the Year above);
Huawei Technologies’ nearly $1.4 billion, 400-job optoelectronics
R&D complex in Sawston, England, at the site of a former paper mill;
Another Huawei project, this time investing $306 million and
creating 300 jobs, in Brumath, Alsace, France
A 2020 investment of $29 million by Lenovo in a 1,000-job computer
manufacturing plant in Ullo, Hungary.
The Rhodium/MERICS report said consumer products (because of the
Hillhouse acquisition) and automotive were the top sectors for Chinese
FDI in Europe and the UK, with activity in automotive driven by
greenfield investments in electric vehicle batteries. “Together, the two
sectors accounted for 59% of total investment value,” the report said.
“The next three biggest sectors were health, pharma and biotech;
information and communications technology (ICT); and energy.” — Adam
Bruns
Aurora, the Queen of Lake Union, recently sold for $3.6 million.
Photo courtesy of Realogics Sotheby’s International Realty
Remember the houseboat Tom Hanks’ character Sam Baldwin and his son
Jonah inhabited in the 1993 classic “Sleepless in Seattle.” Well, Sam,
that particular residential niche is fully awake now. Late April saw the
release of the second annual Realogics Sotheby’s International Realty (RSIR)
Floating Home Market Report, which finds that “2021 proved to be
one of the busiest years yet for sales of floating property in Seattle —
the most niche lifestyle and unique Seattle real estate sub-market.”
Among the report’s observations: Being on the end of a dock — just like
having a home on the end of a peninsula — carries a premium. And only
15% of local floating homes lease their slip. “The value of a floating
home on an owned slip increases significantly, where the average sales
price of a floating home on a co-op or condo dock was $1,612.431,” says
the report, “while a floating home on a leased dock has an average sales
price of just $574,500.”
EVENTS
PROJECT WATCH
Germany
Functional ingredient manufacturer BENEO has announced this €50 million
investment in a new pulse processing site in Offstein, Germany, to
produce protein rich pulse ingredients for food and animal feed. It will
focus initially on protein concentrate, starch rich flour and hulls from
Faba bean, with the option to process other pulses in the future. “The
new production site further strengthens the company’s plant-based
protein portfolio and enables BENEO to meet growing demand for
plant-based food and feed ingredients,” the company said. “The
plant-based protein trend is here to stay. It is predicted that by 2027,
75% of all protein demand will be vegetal, while products using these
proteins are expected to reach 11% CAGR between 2020-2027.” Construction
has begun and is expected to be completed within the second half of
2024, creating up to 25 jobs at the Offstein site.
Roofing product maker IKO, based in Wilmington, Delaware, held the grand
opening for this new production facility in late April. The project was
originally announced in March 2019. The company’s sixth U.S.
manufacturing site began manufacturing product in the latter half of
2021, said the company, and employs around 40 at this startup stage. The
460,000-sq.-ft. production and warehouse facility “marks IKO’s first
manufacturing site for thermoplastic polyolefin (TPO), a single-ply
roofing membrane material used in the commercial flat roofing market,”
the company said. “In addition to TPO, the plant will also produce
polyisocyanurate (ISO) insulation products for distribution across North
America. A long-time supplier to the residential roofing marketplace in
the United States, IKO opened its first U.S. based asphalt shingle
plants in Delaware, Illinois and Ohio in 1981 and exports to around 100
countries globally.” Established in 1951, IKO operates more than 35
manufacturing plants throughout North America and Europe.
Construction of the LAX Automated People Mover guideway over Sepulveda
Boulevard was executed by a JV team comprising Fluor, Balfour Beatty,
Dragados USA and Flatiron.
Photo by
Brandon Tseng with Los Angeles World Airports
Fluor this week released this striking image of the train guideway
structure for Los Angeles International Airport’s Automated People Mover
that its joint venture team LINXS Constructors (comprising Fluor,
Balfour Beatty, Dragados USA and Flatiron) has completed constructing.
“The guideway is the latest construction milestone for the $4.9 billion
mega infrastructure project, which is scheduled for completion in 2023,”
Fluor said about the 2.25-mile, six-station electric train system, the
centerpiece of LAX’s Landside Access Modernization Program.
“The Automated People Mover project is a critical investment for Los
Angeles’ infrastructure as the city prepares to host the 2028 Olympic
and Paralympic Games,” said Thomas Nilsson, president of Fluor’s
Infrastructure business. “The Automated People Mover will be so much
more than another way to get to LAX,” said Los Angeles Mayor Eric
Garcetti. “It is the piece of the puzzle that will end the congestion
that has been plaguing our airport for decades,”
