(Yicai) March 21 -- GOAT Group, the world's largest rare sneaker trading platform, Italian coffee machine giant DeLonghi, and 38 other multinationals penned agreements with the Shanghai government today to set up regional headquarters or research and development centers in the metropolis so as to bolster their presence in China.

GOAT upgraded its Shanghai branch to become its Asia-Pacific regional headquarters, Liang Junyan, general manager of the US e-commerce company’s China arm, said at the signing ceremony. With support from local customs’ foreign trade facilitation policies, the company plans to shift more of its operations to Shanghai.

The value of GOAT’s imports and exports in China has reached USD1 billion over the past three years, accounting for a quarter of its global trading volume. Shanghai has also become the Culver-based firm’s talent base in China, where it has set up its management and marketing departments, Liang said.

Despite uncertainties surrounding China-US trade policies this year, GOAT remains very confident in the Chinese market, Liang said. With the continuous optimization of tariff and trade facilitation policies in the Asia-Pacific region, the Asia-Pacific market will become a key growth driver for the company’s global business, he added.

DeLonghi also upgraded its Shanghai operations unit to become its China headquarters today. Thanks to China’s constant consumption upgrades and fierce market competition, the company’s R&D strategy has changed significantly. Many new products are being debuted in China first before being introduced to European markets, Zong Yanping, managing director of DeLonghi China, told Yicai.

Last year, DeLonghi logged double-digit sales growth in China, with Shanghai alone contributing one-fifth of the Treviso-based company's sales in the country, thanks to the municipality’s strong coffee-drinking culture, Zong said.

In addition to GOAT and DeLonghi, US electric car startup Tesla, retail giant Costco, Italian fashion group Diesel and Dutch music leader Universal Music also signed agreements with Shanghai today to set up their regional headquarters in the metropolis.

Shanghai was home to 1,027 multinationals' regional headquarters and 597 foreign-funded R&D institutions as of February. Of these, 60 regional headquarters and 30 R&D hubs were added last year.

Shanghai also issued certificates of Global Partnership for Foreign Investment Promotion today to 10 professional service and financial institutions, including German consulting firm Roland Berger and Japanese lender Mizuho Bank of Japan, with the aim of attracting more foreign investment by leveraging their global resources.

Editor: Kim Taylor