Boost for Britain as businesses commit to invest £30bn in UK
Some of the world’s biggest businesses have committed to invest a total of nearly £30bn in Britain, the government has announced ahead of a major investment summit taking place today.
World-leading investors are set to plough tens of billions into projects up and down the UK in the country’s tech, life sciences and renewable energy sectors, creating over 12,000 new jobs.
It comes as over 200 A-list chief executives and investors prepare to gather at Hampton Court Palace for the Global Investment Summit before a Buckingham Palace reception with King Charles.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said this planned investment represented “a huge vote of confidence in the future of the UK economy”.
Sunak said: “Global CEOs are right to back Britain – we are making this the best place in the world to invest and do business.
“From giving businesses the biggest tax cut in recent history last week, to our culture of innovation and thriving universities producing some of the finest minds in the world, ours is truly a nation of opportunity.”
Major investments secured include £10bn from Australia’s IFM Investors on energy and infrastructure schemes and £7bn from Spain’s Iberdrola, which will focus on the UK’s electricity networks.
Microsoft has also pledged £2.5bn to build critical artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, which will bring more next-generation AI data centres and thousands of graphic processing units to the UK.
Switzerland’s Partners Group, Germany’s BioNTech, the US-based Ellison Institute, and the Netherlands’ Yondr are all also planning to invest between £1bn to £2.5bn in the UK, the government said.
David Neal, IFM CEO, said: “Our presence in the UK continues to grow and we look forward to working closely with the government to drive investment into large-scale infrastructure and energy transition projects across equity and debt funding.”
The capital pledged is triple the amount secured at the last Global Investment Summit in 2021, the government said.
It added that the Department for Business & Trade is also exploring options for a UK corporate re-domiciliation regime to make it easier for foreign companies to relocate to the UK in a bid to spur further investment.
Notable business chiefs that are set to attend include Stephen Schwarzman from Blackstone, Amanda Blanc from Aviva, David Soloman from Goldman Sachs and Jamie Dimon at JP Morgan Chase.
Barclays, HSBC and Lloyds Bank are principal partners of the event.