Brexit may be causing all sorts of uncertainty in Britain but it doesn’t seem to be putting off foreign investors.
In a survey on corporate deal-making published Monday, consulting and accounting firm EY says Britain is the top investment destination in the world for the first time in the report’s 10-year history — overtaking the United States, which has held the top spot since 2014.
The pound’s fall since the June 2016 vote to leave the European Union has made British assets cheaper, but Steve Krouskos, a global vice chair at EY, notes Britain also remains an “open environment for foreign investors” even in the midst of the Brexit chaos.
That culture, he said, is reinforced by the English language, a skilled workforce, and a strong technology base.
Those long-standing strengths have helped Britain recover as a place to do business since the shock of the June 2016 referendum, which saw the country narrowly vote to leave the EU.
With so much uncertainty surrounding the future of the British economy, the country slumped down EY’s rankings. In the October 2016 survey, Britain was as low as seventh.
There have been a number of high-profile investments in Britain over the past year, including Comcast’s purchase of satellite broadcaster Sky for around 30 billion pounds (currently USD39 billion) and Coca-Cola’s takeover of Costa Coffee for near 4 billion pounds (USD5.2 billion).
