Source：Shanghai Daily

HANGZHOU attracts not only tourists for its scenery and culture but also foreign investment for its many business opportunities.

In the first eight months of 2012, the city, which is famous for West Lake, approved 286 new foreign-invested companies, totaling more than US$4 billion.

From January through August, four of the world?s top 500 enterprises settled in the city. They are American Express Technology (Hangzhou) Co Ltd, Zhejiang FESCO Adecco Human Resources Service Co Ltd, SinoKorea Life Insurance Co Ltd (Hangzhou) and Kale Food Co Ltd (Hangzhou).

By August this year, the city had 144 investment projects from 92 global 500 enterprises.

Many foreign-invested projects are significant to the city's development. For example, the city's Metro project has attracted overseas capital of US$350 million. The city's first for-profit institution for old age care was approved in August.

By August, the city had 150 projects with each investment of more than US$10 million. They represent a total investment of US$6.2 billion (92.5 percent of the city's total), including US$3.52 billion (86.8 percent of the city's total) in contracted foreign investment.

Hangzhou has 68 projects with investments larger than US$30 million each. They represent total investment of US$4.77 billion (71.09 percent of the city's total), including US$2.4 billion (59.27 percent of the city's total) in contracted overseas investment.

The percentage of large-size projects in all areas with foreign investment has continued to increase.

Most overseas investors still prefer establishing a foreign company in Hangzhou, but the percentage has continued to drop. More foreign investors are opting for collaborations with local businessmen.

In the first eight months of 2012, there were 79 such collaborative investment projects, totaling contracted overseas investment of US$1.14 billion, up by 1.2 percent from the same period in 2011. The percentage of these projects is 38.14 percent, up by 5.11 percentage points year on year. For these projects, US$990 million of overseas investment has been installed, up by 6.6 percent from the same period last year. This represents 34.26 percent of the city's total, which has increased by 3.46 percentage points year on year.

In addition, the number of mergers and acquisitions between global 500 enterprises and private Hangzhou companies has increased gradually. These are become a new highlight of Hangzhou's foreign investment projects. For example, Pfizer settled in Hangzhou by acquiring Zhejiang Haizheng Medicine Co, which also greatly accelerated the structural reform and upgrading of the city's private business.

From January to August, the percentage of service industry in all foreign investment projects increased, now representing 67.75 percent of all contracted overseas investment, up by 9.32 percentage points from the same period last year.

Notable high growth-rate areas include information transformation, computer services, software, scientific research and comprehensive technology services. The fields of information transformation, computer services and software have attracted 56 projects with contracted overseas investment of US$820 million, 20.21 percent of the city's total and up by 78.46 percent year on year.

The fields of scientific research and comprehensive technology services have attracted 49 projects, with contracted foreign investment of US$802 million, representing 19.77 percent, an increase by 78.44 percent from the same period last year.