China has released five employees of an American corporate investigations firm, the Mintz Group, two years after they were detained as part of a crackdown by Beijing on foreign business consultancies.

“We understand that the Mintz Group Beijing employees who were detained, all Chinese nationals, have now all been released,” the firm, which is based in New York and has offices around the world, said in a statement Tuesday.

“We are grateful to the Chinese authorities that our former colleagues can now be home with their families,” the company said.

The employees’ release comes as China is trying to revive overseas investment to help revive its sluggish economy. Dozens of foreign executives, including Tim Cook of Apple and Cristiano Amon, the CEO of Qualcomm, are visiting Beijing this week to attend a development forum. Foreign investment that slowed to a crawl during COVID-19 has not recovered in the past couple of years, as weak sales and overall demand in the Chinese economy have made it less attractive.

— The New York Times