A series of high-profile deals this year highlights the growing interest of emerging market companies in making acquisitions in Europe.

First Sany, the Chinese heavy engineering group, acquired control of Putzmeister, a leading maker of concrete pumps and a prime example of a German Mittelstand business, a small to medium-sized and typically privately owned enterprise.

Next, China’s Bright Food said it was purchasing a 60 per cent stake inWeetabix, the prominent UK cereals company. Soon afterwards, América Móvil, the telecoms group run by Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim, announced plans to boost its stake in KPN, the Dutch operator, to 28 per cent. These deals make headlines because the target companies are well known in Europe. For European pessimists, their acquisition by emerging markets-based groups is another reflection of Europe’s economic crisis and/or terminal economic decline. For optimists, they may be a sign of better things to come, just as a wave of Japanese investments 25 years ago helped reinvigorate key parts of the European economy, notably the British car industry.