A Chinese company has bought a little-known Dutch firm which is the biggest lorry trailer rental group in Europe, the Volkskrant reports on Thursday.

Chinese entrepreneur Chen Feng has bought TIP Trailer Services, which operates a fleet of 48,000 trailers and services a further 28,000 for third parties.

The HNA Group paid ‘several hundred million euros’ for TIP Trailer Services, the Volkskrant says. The company had been owned by General Electric and the sale was completed some three months ago, but no purchase price was given.

Conglomerate

HNA is a conglomerate made up of airlines, airports, hotels and financial service groups, the paper says.

TIP has a workforce of 850 and books annual sales of around €300m. The company is based in Amsterdam.

‘The Dutch government should give me a medal. I am the biggest Chinese investor in the Netherlands,’ Chen Feng told the paper in an interview.

Other deals

Other major deals involving Chinese firms in the Netherlands include the 2002 takeover of the Kruidvat group by Hutchison Wampoa and the takeover of Rotterdam waste processor AVR by Cheung Kong last year. Both firms are owned by Hong Kong magnate Li Ka-Shing.

In 2011, Chinese state company BHAP bought Limburg roofing firm Inalfa.