Germany attracted record foreign investment in 2014 - study

By Rene Wagner BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany attracted a record 3.2 billion euros (2 billion pounds) in foreign investment last year, as the number of new investors reached an all-time high thanks largely to growing interest from China, the trade and investment agency said. Foreign investors launched 1,199 new projects in the country in 2014, up a fifth from a year earlier, and the value of projects rose by 18.5 percent from 2.7 billion euros in 2013, according to the report by Germany Trade & Invest (GTAI), a government institution. Foreign investment also created at least 16,000 jobs in Europe's biggest economy last year, GTAI said. "Germany is the safe haven in Europe and is one of the fastest-growing industrial countries," GTAI director Achim Hartig told Reuters on Monday. "That's very attractive for investors," he said, adding that the country's good infrastructure, favourable situation in the heart of Europe and well-qualified workforce were also bonuses. The largest number of investors by far came from China, pushing the United States down to second place. China launched 190 projects in Germany last year ranging from production to research and development - 37 percent more than in 2013. U.S. investors carried out 168 new projects while Swiss investors undertook 130. Hartig said foreign companies were investing particularly in corporate and financial services, with information and communications technology as well as the software sector being in high demand. More than half of the investors came from Europe. Germany is attractive to southern European companies as its solid economy allows such firms to offset weakness in their home markets. Foreign investors also acquired German firms, with GTAI recording 489 takeovers and mergers. U.S. companies were involved in 114 such deals, followed by British companies on 58, and Swiss companies on 44. GTAI said there were 537 such transactions in 2013, though the methodology used to work this out was different. (Writing by Michelle Martin; Editing by Stephen Brown and Susan Fenton)