By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Multiracial United Kingdom does better with firms owned by foreigners whose interests span all sectors of the economy, from manufacturing, defence, to media and sports, retailing and hospitality.
Business Minister Gerry Grimstone acknowledged that many British companies perform better with overseas ownership and stressed that the UK has nothing to fear from a recent flood of private foreign takeover bids for companies listed in the UK.
“It would be a sad day for Britain if we pulled down the shutters so that we weren’t a mercantile entrepreneurial country,” he told the BBC in a pitch for an international investment summit holding in London next month.
London has through Brexit lost its crown as the world’s financial headquarters but remains a major player in the industry.
Japanese automaker Nissan has a plant in Sunderland, North East England. Some of London’s most opulent and profitable hotels, including the Savoy and the Ritz, have overseas owners.
Last month, a major supplier to the Royal Navy, Ultra Electronics, agreed to a £2.6 billion takeover bid from Cobham based in the United States.
The BBC reported Cobham as saying it would “offer legally binding and enforceable commitments to HM Government” over the deal.
These include security issues and protecting more than 10,000 UK jobs.
Grimstone’s comments came as Westminster announced that the UK will hold a major international investment summit in October to attract more overseas investment in post-Brexit Britain.
Overseas invested firms more productive, create more jobs
“All our research shows that overseas invested companies are more productive and produce more jobs,” Grimstone added.
“It’s an extraordinary finding but what it shows is the importance of attracting overseas investment into the UK.”
According to the BBC, recent figures show that foreign private buyers have spent more acquiring UK-listed business in the last eight months than they have in the last five years combined.
Currently, grocery company Morrisons and defence contractors Meggitt and Ultra are the subject of bidding wars between overseas investors.
Grimstone, former deputy chairman of Barclays, a major sponsor of the summit, said the UK was at the forefront of industries of the future, including renewable energy and the convergence of finance and technology, so-called fintech.
He also pointed to the £1 billion investment in new car and battery production recently announced by Nissan.
Attractive foreign investment
“We intend to keep the UK as one of the most attractive destinations for foreign investment in the world,” Grimstone said.
“We are in that category but I like to think of investment as one of the most globally competitive sports and we intend to win in it.”
Despite the flood of recent private takeovers, however, overall foreign direct investment into the UK has fallen every year since the Brexit referendum in 2016.
And the UK, which attracted more investment than any other country in Europe for 18 years in a row, lost that title to France in both of the last two years, according to the BBC.
