In July 2018, Chinese state-owned China State Grid bid to purchase a 20% stake in 50Hertz, a German transmission system operator for electricity. In response, The German finance and economy ministers issued a joint statement clearly outlining their position that the government viewed China State Grid’s purchase of a 20% stake in 50Hertz as a threat to national security and critical infrastructure. To block the purchase by china State Grid, the German federal government had KfW, a German state-owned development bank buy the stake instead. The German government could not directly interfere with the transaction as the law only allowed involvement by the government when ownership stakes in question are 25% or greater.