Many companies perform better with overseas ownership consistent with business minister Lord Grimstone, who said the united kingdom had nothing to fear from a recent flood of personal foreign takeover bids for UK-listed companies.

“It would be a tragic day for Britain if we pulled down the shutters in order that we weren’t a mercantile entrepreneurial country,” he said.

His comments came because the government announced that the united kingdom will hold a serious international investment summit in October to draw in more overseas investment in post-Brexit Britain.

“All our research shows that overseas invested companies are more productive and produce more jobs,” added Lord Grimstone.

“It’s a unprecedented finding but what it shows is that the importance of attracting overseas investment into the united kingdom .”

Recent figures show that foreign private buyers have spent more acquiring UK-listed business within the last eight months than they need within the last five years combined.

Currently, grocery company Morrisons and defence contractors Meggitt and Ultra are the topic of bidding wars between overseas investors.

A person walks past a Morrisons supermarket in Stratford, east London on 21 June 2021
IMAGE SOURCEAFP
Lord Grimstone, former deputy chairman of Barclays, which can be a serious sponsor of the upcoming summit, said the united kingdom was at the forefront of industries of the longer term , including renewable energy and therefore the convergence of finance and technology – so-called fintech.

He also pointed to the £1bn investment in new car and battery production recently announced by Nissan.

“We shall keep the united kingdom together of the foremost attractive destinations for foreign investment within the world,” he said.

“We are therein category but i prefer to consider investment together of the foremost globally competitive sports and that we shall win in it.”

Despite the flood of recent private takeovers, overall foreign direct investment into the united kingdom has fallen per annum since the Brexit referendum in 2016, and therefore the UK which attracted more investment than the other country in Europe for 18 years during a row, lost that title to France in both of the last two years.