Sany Group to invest €300m in Putzmeister One of China's fastest-growing manufacturing companies has promised to invest €300m to expand its new German offshoot, in an illustration of the interest by Chinese production businesses in establishing a stronger international presence. Sany Group, a large maker of construction equipment, says its new plan is likely to create 3,000 jobs across Germany, India and Brazil. Tang Xiuguo, Sany's president, said in an interview with the FT that Sany wanted Stuttgart-based Putzmeister to operate as a largely independent company, responsible for manufacturing and sales of concrete-related equipment around the world. "In future Putzmeister will be a more powerful company, thanks to the introduction of new products that we [Sany] will help it to develop," said Mr Tang. Sany has increased sales by roughly tenfold in the past five years, so that it is now a big rival to global leaders in the building machine business such as the US's Caterpillar and Komatsu of Japan. Sany bought Putzmeister in January for €525m including debt, in one of the biggest purchases by a Chinese business of a German Mittelstand "niche" engineering business. Putzmeister was the biggest company in the world by sales in concrete pumps until 2008 when Sany took over as the industry leader. Its machines are mounted on trucks for channelling concrete on building sites. Sany's plan is to help Putzmeister to invest in the development of new products such as concrete production machinery, mobile cement mixers and building cranes. These products would be aimed largely at customers outside China, leaving the parent group to remain focused on its home country where it has a strong presence in other types of building machines including excavators. Thanks to China's construction boom, concrete pumps have seen immense growth in the country. This year seven out of every 10 machines of this kind sold anywhere are likely to see service in China. Last year Sany accounted for roughly 40 per cent of global sales of concrete pumps of about $5bn. Putzmeister's annual sales hit €1bn in 2007 but fell precipitously in the financial crisis, pushing the company into a big financial loss in 2009. Under Mr Tang's plans, its sales would rise from an expected €621m this year to about €2bn within five years. Putzmeister's workforce of 2,700, of whom about 40 per cent are in Germany, would rise to almost 6,000 by 2017. Mr Tang said the extra jobs would be split between Germany, where Putzmeister has its main factories, and other countries where the company has a strong presence. He said Sany was looking to increase its annual revenues from an expected Rmb100bn ($16bn) this year, of which roughly a fifth is likely to be from concrete pump sales, to Rmb300bn by 2017.