Global investors have committed £29.5bn to a raft of new UK projects in sectors such as tech, life sciences, renewables and infrastructure, the Prime Minister has announced.
More than 200 top CEOs and investors were invited by Rishi Sunak to a summit taking place at Hampton Court Palace.
According to the government, investments could create more than 12,000 jobs across the UK.
As part of the projects announced, Australian fund manager IFM Investors said it would invest £10bn in the UK by 2027 across various large-scale infrastructure and energy transition projects.
This includes Nala Renewables, a portfolio company of one of IFM’s funds, which is looking to install 4GW of renewable energy by 2025.
Meanwhile, energy firm Iberdrola confirmed £7bn of investment, and North Star – which is owned by Partners Group in Switzerland – committed £500m and 400 new jobs to offshore wind infrastructure.
Portfolio company Gren has recently acquired a network of waste and biomass assets, which play a key role in baseload energy production and reducing waste to landfill. The company plans to invest up to £1bn in district heating and local energy systems, which will deliver green energy to over 200,000 homes and thousands of businesses.
Last week, the government announced a £4.5bn Advanced Manufacturing Plan in the Autumn Statement, while Nissan said it would invest £2bn in its Sunderland automotive plant to produce three electric vehicle models.
“Today’s investments, worth more than £29bn, will create thousands of new jobs and are a huge vote of confidence in the future of the UK economy. Global CEOs are right to back Britain – we are making this the best place in the world to invest and do business,” Sunak said.
“With new funding pouring into key industries like clean energy, life sciences and advanced technology, inward investment is creating high-quality new jobs and driving growth right across the country.”
The summit will also see billions for the UK’s tech sector, which currently attracts the highest levels of investment in Europe and last year became the third in the world to be worth $1tn.
This includes a £2.5bn pledge from Microsoft to build critical AI infrastructure such as data centres in the UK.
Source: E&T
