Development

Caohejing signs deals with foreign investors

By Chen Qide (China Daily Shanghai Bureau)
Updated: 2011-07-07 16:17

SHANGHAI -- Caohejing Hi-Tech Park inked deals for 10 projects worth $290 million on Wednesday with investors, mostly from the world's top multinational companies. The investment will be used to set up their regional headquarters and research and development (R&D) centers in Shanghai.

Under the deals, Canada's Cosma International, the world's third largest auto parts supplier, will set up a China R&D center, the ITW Group of the US will establish its Asian Technology Center and China headquarters for sales of food facilities, and America's X-Rite will set up a China headquarters which includes a display center and a training center, said Gui Enliang, deputy general manager of Caohejing Hi-Tech Park Development Corporation.

Gui said US Grainger Inc, the world's leading broad line supplier of facilities maintenance products, also signed a $30-million agreement with Caohejing to relocate its management center into the park.

"The deals signed with foreign investors are part of the park's effort to turn it into one of the city's bases to develop the headquarters economy," said Gui.

After more than 20 years of arduous work, Caohejing Hi-Tech Park has set up six sub-parks in other parts of the city and two subsidiaries in Haining of Zhejiang province and Yancheng of Jiangsu province.

The blueprint worked out by the high-tech park is to set Caohejing as a base for headquarters and R&D centers, while its sub-parks and subsidiaries will be home for manufacturing facilities, Gui said.

France's Faurecia Company, for example, has moved its China headquarters and R&D center into the park, and plans to launch a project valued at $42 million in Caohejing Yancheng Park to manufacture auto parts.

"The going-out strategy, which builds sub-parks out of Caohejing, has created an opportunity for the park's new-round development," said Gui.

"It helps Caohejing extend its business development into other parts of the city and neighbouring provinces," he said.

At the moment, the park has more than 1,500 hi-tech firms including 500 funded by foreign investors. Among them, 90 hi-tech enterprises have been set up by 50 of the world's top 500 multinational companies.

The park created sales of 218.9 billion yuan in 2010, which are expected to rise up to 325 billion yuan in 2015, Gui said.