FDI

Come and discover why Airbus, Siemens, Alcatel-Lucent, Microsoft, Freescale or GE are still investing in Europe. The new setting up of the La Baule World Investment Conference is a privileged way of getting in touch and exchanging with the leaders of global companies and start-ups all around the world. Do you want to be part of the 400 people in the intimate settings of the Hermitage hotel in La Baule? Register now for the last remaining places.

In a few days the virtual community of the La Baule World Investment Conference will open. This tool enables you to ge in touch with all the other attendees of the conference from now on! This means you can set up your meetings, get in touch with colleagues from all over the world, discuss the conference themes and GET THE MOST OUT OF YOUR PRESENCE AT THE LA BAULE WORLD INVESTMENT CONFERENCE!
See you online ;;;

For those of you that will be present or are thinking of participating in the La Baule World Investment Conference from June 2-4 this year, here is an additional reason to go: Just like last year, the regional chamber of commerce will organize on Wednesday June 2nd in La Baule the possibility to meet companies from Western France that are looking to invest in your country/region/city. Subscription to this event is free and easy: simply reply to this message. The chamber of commerce will contact you to arrange the exact meeting time and place and tell you which companies you are going to meet. Last year, 26 companies participated in this event.

By the way, for more information on the La Baule WIC have a look at:  and discover the new program and setting up of the conference. If you’d like to have a talk about this year’s edition, feel free to call me.

In February a report was published in France by the Council of Economic Analysis on the relationship between inward and outward investment. The economists who did this study, Lionel Fontagné and Farid Toubal, did voluntarily exclude the financial in- and outflows and thus considered only material inward and outward FDI. The « score » is impressioning: there is 14 times more outward than inward investment in France, a country considered very attractive, even on a world scale. However, the economists underline that the outward investment is no delocalisation. In fact, the companies investing abroad do this to increase their competitive advantage and thus are able to maintain also their business and create jobs in France. Read more about this topic (in French..): http://purl.manticoretechnology.com/MTC_COMMON/mtcVAWSrv.aspx?ID=7175&Key=EE8740C6-65B0-4C41-8B46-FC2EAC501CEC&URLID=&CID=22591169&CSecKey=5E1ED032-ACC4-46D4-97D1-BB6577C2697E&VAWEmailID=53578&EGUID=c3d0d5be-2216-df11-9b0a-000423e08c67&LID=263718

Our colleagues from the Libya Expansion and Investment Unit organise a conference on investing in Libya. More information at the following link: http://purl.manticoretechnology.com/MTC_COMMON/mtcVAWSrv.aspx?ID=7175&Key=EE8740C6-65B0-4C41-8B46-FC2EAC501CEC&URLID=&CID=22591169&CSecKey=5E1ED032-ACC4-46D4-97D1-BB6577C2697E&VAWEmailID=53578&EGUID=c3d0d5be-2216-df11-9b0a-000423e08c67&LID=263718

I read in the Red Hot Locations newsletter the following quote: 

Michael Hayman, Co-founder of Seven Hills, spoke about how best to highlight a locations assets saying, “Great destinations are defined by great stories.”

And I think this is particularly true for all those locations that are not the well known megapoles that automatically attract FDI. If you want to make a difference as a small city or region, story telling might be an innovating way of marketing your location. Because the story can make the difference, and the credibility which is needed to convince foreign investors. Usually we see stories that are in fact testimonies or success stories. But it might be innovating to think about different kind of stories, that are not used by anybody else, and which identify your location, create a memory and « an experience ».

And the winner is: the UK! Both its cities and regions were in all the top 10 rankings. In April 2008, the Financial Times Ltd acquired fDi Markets and fDi Benchmark. fDi Markets is an independent database tracking global FDI on a real-time basis and fDi Benchmark is an independent database which benchmarks global locations according to how attractive they are to foreign investors. This division compiled the majority of the data for the Cities and Regions of the Future competition, with the exception of the FDI promotion strategy, which was submitted by individual cities/regions and assessed by the judging panel. More info and rankings at: http://www.fdimagazine.com/news/fullstory.php/aid/3234/European_Cities___Regions_of_the_Future_2010_11.html

Yes, it exists! King’s College London and Pepperdine University School of Law in Malibu organize each year the FDI Moot contest, where law students involve in a hypothetical case in connection with an investment by a private investor in a foreign host state. The FDI Moot spans a period of approximately six months each year and has two phases: the writing of memoranda for claimant and respondent and the hearing of oral argument based upon the memoranda. For more information and subscription, get a look here: http://www.fdimoot.org/

What is sovereign investment? We hear in the press: ‘oh, if Saoudian sovereign investment funds could invest in this or that company on the verge of faillite’ . It means litteraly investment funds managed by governments.France is for example talking about setting up a sovereign investment fund.  It is  often seen as a kind of solution to all (economic) problems and gives an image of security and robustness. However, that is without taking into account the strategic meaning of it, which is clearly for nations to enlarge their power and influence. That is why some countries prohibit FDI through sovereign funds. A good discussion on the issue can be found at http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2009/08/18/how-do-australias-foreign-investment-rules-apply-to-china/ .