Technology policy by other means? The recent history of state-owned acquisitions in Europe (2011–2020)

This paper covers the recent history of cross-border M&As by State-owned enterprises (SOEs) from emerging economies to Western Europe between the Sovereign Debt Crises (2011) and the Covid-19 Pandemic (2020). Academic studies posit that cross-border M&As became a new channel for emerging economy SOEs to enhance their technological capabilities, attributing this to the advantage of operating in close ties with national governments that allocate resources and align strategies to pursue international expansion and greater innovative activity. This article contrasts this view in the light of a historical analysis. The dataset comprises 953 cross-border deals of government-owned companies over the period 2011–2022, retrieved from the Zephyr database. Significantly, the decade between the financial crisis and the pandemic marked the reappearance of state ownership in Europe under a new guise, the foreign control of state-owned multinational enterprises (SOMNEs) in technology-based sectors; however, emerging markets SOEs played only a little role, despite their relevance in the academic and policy debate.