Property no-show on inward investment advisory
Real estate is noticeably absent from the long list of expert members appointed to a new investment council, established to act as an advisory body to UK government on foreign investment.
The council, established by minister for investment Gerry Grimstone, has been set up to enhance the UK’s business environment for foreign investors and to help ensure the UK remains one of the most attractive investment destinations in the world.
The council is made up of some 40 private sector senior leaders from around the globe and a variety of industries – from technology and energy to infrastructure and financial services – but does not include any pure real estate voices.
Real estate is noticeably absent from the long list of expert members appointed to a new investment council, established to act as an advisory body to UK government on foreign investment.
The council, established by minister for investment Gerry Grimstone, has been set up to enhance the UK’s business environment for foreign investors and to help ensure the UK remains one of the most attractive investment destinations in the world.
The council is made up of some 40 private sector senior leaders from around the globe and a variety of industries – from technology and energy to infrastructure and financial services – but does not include any pure real estate voices.
Investors with some holdings in real estate do feature on the council, however, including Nigel Wilson, chief executive of Legal & General, Christian Salbaing, deputy chairman of Hutchinson Whampoa, Chow Kiat Lim, chief executive of GIC, and Alain Carrier, senior managing director and head of international & Europe at CPPIB.
The council, led by Grimstone, will meet twice a year and on an ad-hoc basis to provide high-level strategic advice to the Department for International Trade and wider government, operating alongside the recently formed Office for Investment.
Members will share their experiences in the UK market and views on UK competitiveness, and advise on policy and regulatory changes that could improve the attractiveness of the UK for foreign investors.
The aim of the council will be to drive investment into priority areas and sectors, levelling up the whole of the UK through an investment-led recovery.
Grimstone said: “Investment sits at the heart of our economic recovery. It drives jobs, innovation, and helps to level up the whole of the UK.
“The investment council will deliver the expertise of influential global investors right to the heart of government, offering invaluable private sector insight on how we can make the UK the best place to invest as we build back better, and stronger, from Covid-19.”
Last week, EG revealed that overseas investment into real estate in London had fallen to £800m in the first three months of the year, as a result of the continuing shutdown on international travel.
Earlier this year, Grimstone told EG that he was seeing “considerable investor appetite in real estate” and that the sector needed to reposition itself to draw inward investment in a post-Brexit, post-Covid world.
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