法兰克福——在切尔诺贝利和福岛，人们曾用普茨迈斯特(Putzmeister)公司制造的设备来处理失控的核反应堆，但当2008年全球经济危机来袭时，这家德国公司却没有什么方法来保护自己。
普茨迈斯特的总部位于斯图加特南部的埃尔西塔镇，当时公司营收骤降逾50%，不得不把其2500名德国员工裁减了大约一半。然后它遇到一个救星，来自一个意想不到的地方：中国。
总部设在湖南长沙的建筑设备制造商三一集团，在2012年收购了普茨迈斯特，这宗交易已经成为了欧洲日益向中国投资者开放的象征。
被并购后，这家公司似乎取得了成功；中国总理李克强本月访问柏林和汉堡时，受到了热烈欢迎，这也是原因之一。尽管还存在一些摩擦，德国和欧洲已经在很大程度上克服了恐惧感，之前他们曾担心中国投资者会盗窃技术，关闭成本高昂的欧洲的工厂，并把生产环节转移到中国。
“当前世界经济处于困境之中，但德国和中国之间的经济合作发展良好，这是局面稳定的一个迹象，”德国总理默克尔说，她此前刚宣布中德签订了一系列新的条约和商业合同，其中包括空中客车(Airbus)获得飞机订单，10月10日她又表示，大众(Volkswagen)与中国一汽集团的合资企业合同延长到2041年。
欧洲人之所以变得更加欢迎中国人，原因之一在于，他们需要获得帮助，来应对经济增长乏力、人口老龄化，以及不温不火的商业投资。除了资金之外，中国投资者还可以帮助欧洲企业更好地把握中国和亚洲其他市场的机会。
这在一定程度上是欧洲超过美国成为中国最大贸易伙伴的原因，而欧洲人似乎希望更进一步。“可以说，欧洲正在欢迎中国的投资，”研究过这一课题的英国利兹大学商学院(Leeds University Business School)教授杰里米·克莱格(Jeremy Clegg)说。
中国人受欢迎的另一个原因是，至少到目前为止，事实证明他们是比较低调、几乎隐形的企管人士。普茨迈斯特人力资源主管乌韦·米赛尔拜克(Uwe Misselbeck)表示，在该公司位于埃尔西塔的主厂区，只有一名中国管理人员和五名中国见习员工。
上个月在李克强访德之前，米赛尔拜克在法兰克福参加由审计公司毕马威(KPMG)组织的活动时说，“我们仍在用刀叉吃饭。”此次会议是一个宣传活动的一部分，目的是要反驳长期以来对中国老板的刻板印象。
普茨迈斯特专门制造建筑工地的混凝土浇铸设备，1986年在现位于乌克兰的切尔诺贝利，该设备曾被用于控制核辐射，2011年在日本，它还被用来抽取大量水，冷却福岛核电站出现故障的反应堆。
米赛尔拜克提到三一重工收购一事时说，“中国同事对我们很热情。”他将他们与那些“想要告诉你世界如何运转”的美国投资者作比较，流露出对前者的赞赏。
迄今为止，美国仍然是欧洲直接投资的最大来源，2012年，其投资金额在总投资额所占的比例超过了三分之一，而中国投资所占比例为2.6%。2012年是能获得完整信息的最新一年。
但中国投资的增长速度比其他国家快得多。据官方统计机构欧洲统计局(Eurostat)透露，2010年至2012年，中国在欧盟持有的股票的价值翻了三倍多，增至268亿欧元（按照当前汇率计算约合2085亿元人民币）。
中国公司投资购买意大利热内亚、那不勒斯及雅典的港口。他们收购了意大利钢制品制造商、德国户外家具生产商，以及匈牙利化学品生产商。10月11日，德方在汉堡召开了主题为“中国遇见欧洲”的会议，欢迎李克强总理。据当地商会透露，汉堡及周边地区有500多家中国公司。
据毕马威透露，随着中国政府简化国内公司在进行海外投资前必须通过的审批过程，来自中国的投资会进一步增加。
中国投资商开展了很多备受瞩目的交易，而且愿意购买陷入困境的公司，他们因此获得关注。浙江吉利控股集团于2010年从福特汽车(Ford Motor)手中收购了沃尔沃汽车公司(Volvo Cars)，这是最受关注的收购案之一。
今年8月，沃尔沃在斯德哥尔摩推出了自归中国公司所有以来的首款新车型，中方非常低调，近乎隐形。现场没有中方的管理人员。沃尔沃的首席执行官介绍了名为XC90DE运动型多用途车，称这款新车是瑞典美学与工程的结晶。
沃尔沃汽车公司首席执行官哈坎·萨缪尔森(Hakan Samuelsson)暗示，与福特相比，公司归吉利所有后拥有更多自由。
“他们给了我们一个新角色：一家独立自主的公司，”在与一小群记者的会议上，萨缪尔森提到吉利时说。“我们不是一个只能执行某个核心机构命令的部门。”
中国已经成为沃尔沃汽车的最大市场，这也证明了中国的投资可以为欧洲公司打开新的市场。最豪华的XC90车型将在瑞典生产，但沃尔沃的其他车型已经在中国投产，公司正考虑向美国出口一些中国生产的车型。
中欧贸易关系也存在紧张。欧洲投资者抱怨，他们在中国投资时受到的限制，要远远多于中国在欧洲投资时受到的限制，还有在与政府拥有或补贴的中国企业竞争时所处的劣势。
欧洲官员曾指责中国对原材料出口设置的限制，违反了世贸组织成员国需要遵守的规定。他们还指责中国倾销太阳能板，这种做法给德国的太阳能设备制造商造成了严重的麻烦。
李克强10月10日访问柏林时，香港正在举行亲民主抗议活动，默克尔谨慎地提到，他们还讨论了人权问题。
中国官员也曾对欧洲企业发出指责。今年9月，湖北省的物价监管机构对大众(Volkswagen)旗下的奥迪(Audi)罚款4050万美元，称这家汽车生产商与10家经销商达成了垄断协议，以维持整车及备用配件的高售价。
中国和欧盟就一份新的综合投资协议的谈判一直进展缓慢，这份协议或将缓解一些摩擦，同时简化交易程序，为投资者提供更多保护。
从资金数额来看，中国国有企业是欧洲最大的投资者群体，而即使是三一重工这样的私营企业，也与政府有着密切的关系。这引发了一种长期存在的怀疑，即中国的投资是对欧洲经济施加影响的隐秘计划的一部分。
但在当地，中国管理者采取的无为而治的策略，似乎缓解了这样的担忧。
利兹大学教授克莱格说，中国所有者表现出来的克制，反映出他们对跨国生意是相对陌生的。
这就让他们与美国的投资者区别开来。美国的投资者实施收购，可能就是因为他们觉得自己能够改善一家公司的管理方法。
“与美国模式不同，来到海外的中国企业没有管理上的过人才干，也没有几十年的丰富经验，”克莱格说。“他们还在说自己有许多东西需要学习。”（中国进出口网）
FRANKFURT — Equipment made by Putzmeister has been used to help smother out-of-control nuclear reactors in Chernobyl and Fukushima, but the German company had no technology to protect it when the global economic meltdown struck in 2008.
Putzmeister, based in the town of Aichtal, south of Stuttgart, suffered more than a 50 percent plunge in revenue and had to cut its German staff of about 2,500 by roughly half. Then, a rescuer came from an unlikely place: China.
In a deal that has become emblematic of Europe's increasing openness to Chinese investors, Sany Group, a maker of construction equipment based in Changsha in Hunan Province, bought Putzmeister in 2012.
The apparent success of the combined company since then is one reason why Premier Li Keqiang of China received a warm welcome when he visited Berlin and Hamburg this month. Despite some remaining friction, Germany and Europe in general have largely overcome fears that Chinese investors would steal technology, close costly European factories and ship the production to China.
"With the difficult situation in the world economy that we see at the moment, it's a sign of stability that economic cooperation between Germany and China is developing very well," Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany said on Oct. 10 after announcing a host of new treaties and business contracts between the two nations, including orders for Airbus planes and an extension of Volkswagen's joint venture in China with the FAW Group Corporation until 2041.
One reason that Europeans have become more welcoming of the Chinese is that they need the help. Economic growth is weak, the population is aging, and business investment is tepid. Besides money, Chinese investors help European companies get better access to China and other Asian markets.
Partly as a result, Europe has surpassed the United States as China's largest trading partner, and Europeans appear to be eager for more. "I think it's fair to say Europe is welcoming Chinese investment," said Jeremy Clegg, a professor at Leeds University Business School in Britain who has studied the subject.
Another reason the Chinese are welcome is that, at least so far, they have proved to be unobtrusive, almost invisible, managers. At Putzmeister's main plant in Aichtal, there is just one Chinese executive and five Chinese trainees, said Uwe Misselbeck, the company's head of human resources.
"We're still eating with knives and forks," Mr. Misselbeck said last month at an event in Frankfurt organized by consulting firm KPMG before Mr. Li's visit. The session was part of a campaign to counter lingering stereotypes about Chinese owners.
Putzmeister specializes in equipment to pump concrete at construction sites, which was used to contain nuclear radiation at Chernobyl in 1986, in what is now Ukraine, and to pump massive amounts of water to cool the malfunctioning reactor at Fukushima, Japan, in 2011.
"The Chinese colleagues treated us very cordially," Mr. Misselbeck said of the takeover by Sany. He compared them favorably with investors from the United States, "who want to tell you how the world works."
The United States remains by far the largest source of direct investment in Europe, accounting for more than one third of the total in 2012, the most recent year for which complete information is available. That compared to a 2.6 percent share for China.
But investment from China has grown at a much faster rate than that from any other country. The value of Chinese holdings in the European unio more than quadrupled from 2010 to 2012, to 26.8 billion euros, or $34 billion at current exchange rates, according to Eurostat, the official statistics agency.
Chinese companies have invested in ports in Genoa and Naples in Italy and in Athens. They have bought Italian makers of steel products, German manufacturers of patio furniture, and Hungarian chemical producers. Hamburg, which hosted Mr. Li on Oct. 11 at a "China Meets Europe" meeting, has more than 500 Chinese companies in the city and surrounding area, according to the local chamber of commerce.
And investment from China could get a further boost as the Chinese government streamlines the approval process that domestic companies must go through before they invest abroad, according to KPMG.
Chinese investors have also drawn attention with a number of high-profile deals and their willingness to buy troubled companies. One of the most attention-getting acquisitions was in 2010 when Zhejiang Geely Holding bought Volvo Cars from Ford Motor.
In August, when Volvo unveiled its first completely new model under Chinese ownership at an event in Stockholm, the Chinese presence was so discreet it was invisible. No Chinese executives appeared. Volvo executives presented the new car, a sport utility vehicle called the XC90, as the embodiment of Swedish aesthetics and engineering.
Hakan Samuelsson, the chief executive of Volvo Cars, implied that the company had more freedom under Geely's ownership than under Ford.
"They have given us a new role as a stand-alone company," Mr. Samuelsson said of Geely during a meeting with a small group of journalists. "We are not a sort of division executing commands from some center."
In an example of how Chinese ownership can open up new markets for European companies, China has become the largest market for Volvo Cars. The top-of-the-line XC90 will be built in Sweden, but other Volvo models are already being manufactured in China and the company is considering exporting some of the Chinese-made models to the United States.
The Chinese-European trade relationship is not without tensions. European investors complain that they face far more restrictions investing in China than vice versa, as well as a disadvantage competing against Chinese companies that are government owned or receive government subsidies.
European officials have accused China of imposing restrictions on the export of raw materials in violation of rules pertaining to members of the World Trade Organization. They have also accused China of selling solar panels at dumping prices, a practice that has created severe problems for German producers of solar equipment.
When Mr. Li visited Berlin on Oct. 10, against a background of pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, Ms. Merkel was careful to mention that they had also discussed human rights issues.
Chinese officials have also made accusations against European companies. In September, price regulators in Hubei Province imposed a fine of $40.5 million on the Audi unit of Volkswagen, saying that the automaker had reached monopolistic agreements with 10 dealerships to maintain high prices for cars and replacement parts.
Progress has been slow on an effort to negotiate a new comprehensive investment agreement between the European unio and China that would ease some of these frictions, while simplifying transactions and providing more protections to investors.
State-owned Chinese companies are the largest investors in Europe in monetary terms, and even private companies like Sany have close ties to the government. That leads to persistent suspicion that Chinese investment is part of a stealth effort to exert influence in the European economy.
But at the local level the light touch applied by Chinese managers seems to have helped assuage such concerns.
Mr. Clegg, the University of Leeds professor, said the restraint displayed by Chinese owners reflected their own relative newness to international business.
That sets them apart from, say, American investors who may make acquisitions specifically because they think they can improve the way a company is managed.
"Unlike the American model, the firms from China are not going abroad with managerial talent, with decades of experience," Mr. Clegg said. "They would still say they have more to learn."
