An IVC Evidensia veterinary practice in Sweden may not appear to have much in common with a Vena Energy solar project in Taiwan, or GardaWorld security personnel at a Canadian ice-hockey game.

But some of the capital that helps sustain all three companies comes from the same place: the People’s Republic of China.

Private equity firms EQT, Global Infrastructure Partners and BC Partners — the immediate owners, respectively, of the three businesses — are just three among dozens of western buyout groups that Chinese state-backed investors such as the State Administration of Foreign Assets and China Investment Corporation have poured money into, according to people familiar with their affairs and an analysis of regulatory filings.

These relationships, often established via offshore vehicles, have enabled Chinese state funds to deploy hundreds of billions of dollars into western economies, taking indirect stakes in companies across sectors such as healthcare, technology and industrial even as regulators and politicians move to reduce the west’s economic dependency on China.