NW shares second place in foreign investment league

THE North West has been ranked second after London as the most popular target for foreign investment, new figures show.

The region shared the position with Belfast after the number of foreign direct investment projects dropped to 38 in 2009, from 51 in 2008.

The majority of those investments (20) were located in Greater Manchester, with ten in Merseyside, five in Cheshire, two in Lancashire, and one in Cumbria, according to Ernst & Young’s latest European Attractiveness Survey.

Of the total projects, 32% originated from the US, including a new office for waste management and recycling equipment company, CP Manufacturing in Littleborough. Others were from Germany (6), Ireland (4) and Denmark (3).

Half of the investment attracted to the region was from the manufacturing industry, particularly in the machinery and equipment, electrical, and chemicals sector.

Projects included: Jaguar Land Rover’s expansion of plant to produce low carbon vehicles at Halewood; plant expansion for paper company Saica Pack UK, based in Wigan; and a new plant for frozen pizza maker Freiberger, next to its existing plant in Westhoughton.

Finance and business services accounted for 39% of the investment, including new offices for wealth manager Bluefin Group inManchester, and a call centre expansion for US business services company, Zendor GSI Commerce in Oldham.

The UK as a whole retained its position as the most attractive destination for inward investment in Europe in 2009.

It attracted 678 investment projects in 2009 – just 1% down on 2008. These projects produced 20,017 jobs; 16% of the total jobs created by foreign direct investment across Europe.

The largest investor in the UK was the US (243 projects), followed by France (50), Germany (49) and India (38).