Britain’s Sunak hails $37 billion in investment ahead of FDI summit

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced 29.5 billion pounds ($36.76 billion) of private sector investment in Britain before hosting global leaders to make the country once again the leading destination for foreign direct investment () in Europe.

Australian funds IFM Investors and Aware Super will pump £10 billion and £5 billion respectively into projects ranging from infrastructure and energy transition to affordable housing, Sunak’s Downing Street office said in a statement.

The Spanish energy giant Iberdrola IBE will boost its investment plans in the UK by £7 billion, including for power grid transmission and distribution, it said.

Other projects listed in the statement include a £2.5 billion investment in artificial intelligence infrastructure by Microsoft MSFT.

“Attracting global investment is at the heart of my plan to grow the economy,” Sunak said in the statement, delivered ahead of his investment summit on Monday at London’s 16th-century Hampton Court Palace.

Like many other countries, Britain is looking for private sector investment to transform its economy for the net-zero era and build the kind of infrastructure that strained public finances alone cannot finance.

However, several major investors have said that political and regulatory uncertainty triggered by the 2016 Brexit referendum (link) has reduced the UK’s attractiveness in recent years, while other countries have become more attractive for foreign direct investment.

Last year, France overtook Britain as the European country with the highest number of new FDI projects. French President Emmanuel Macron announced 13 billion euros ($14.18 billion) in investment commitments in his country at a similar event in May.

Sunak said new funding for sectors such as clean energy, life sciences and high technology would create high-quality jobs across the UK.

Stephen Schwarzman of Blackstone BXDavid Solomon of Goldman Sachs and Jamie Dimon of JP Morgan Chase (JMP.N) were scheduled to attend Monday’s event.

The UK government admits it needs to do more to compete, a review launched after the country missed out on some high-profile investments found (link).

According to the auditing firm EY (link), the UK is currently behind France and Germany in terms of attracting foreign direct investment.

But it has had some recent successes, including Nissan’s announcement (link) 7201 on Friday that the company will build electric cars in northeast England.

The UK plans to launch a concierge service (link) to help potential investors negotiate with the government.

“When a company approaches the British government, they don’t want to deal with five different departments. They want to deal with one person,” Investment Minister Dominic Johnson told Reuters ahead of Monday’s event at Hampton Court.

This would allow ministers to have “very intensive, open discussions with the international investment community about how we can make the environment more investment-friendly,” he said.

British Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt on Wednesday announced long-term tax incentives to encourage business investment that he hopes will accelerate the country’s sluggish economy.

IFM’s £10 billion investment plans for the UK represent an increase from the original £3 billion announcement last year, while all other projects announced by the government are new, a government official said.

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