After Emmanuel Macron’s charm offensive, the two largest pharmaceutical companies in Britain have committed £430m to France.
AstraZeneca, GSK and other pharmaceutical companies have pledged to upgrade their facilities within the country in accordance with a major investment program announced by the French President on Monday.
AstraZeneca is investing €365m (£314m), while will invest an additional €140m at three production sites in the country.
The investment from the FTSE titans will coincide alongside an additional €500m of overseas rivals Pfizer & Novartis. President Macron now has nearly €1bn in inbound pharma investments.
The UK government has been accused in recent years of not supporting the pharmaceutical sector.
The tensions reached a peak last year, when AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot claimed that high taxes made Britain “very inattractive” to business.
Relations have improved since then, and the company committed two months ago to building a new £650m vaccine plant in Liverpool. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt visited AstraZeneca earlier this year.
Yesterday, President Macron revealed his investments at the “Choose France”, an investment summit that was held in the Palace of Versailles.
The event was attended by more than 180 business leaders from around the world, including top executives of Microsoft and Amazon as well as the largest Wall Street banks.
The president announced that more than 50 multinationals had invested a record €15bn in the country, compared to €13bn a year ago.
He claimed that France’s business-friendly policies “made France the most appealing country in Europe”.
A report by EY, released alongside the summit, also revealed that France was the most attractive European destination in terms of foreign investment. It surpassed the UK.
The President Macron is a skilled negotiator when it comes to dealing with foreign executives.
In a review by Lord Harrington last year, which aimed to make the UK an attractive investment destination, the style of Mr Macron was highlighted.
The report said that the President sent a text to a number of chief executives inviting them directly to the Palace of Versailles.
At the event in Versailles, Mr Soriot was joined by Wall Street banking leaders such as Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon and JP Morgan chief Jamie Dimon.
Bruno Le Maire, the French finance minister, will also meet with Brian Moynihan, chief executive of Bank of America and Ted Pick Morgan Stanley’s CEO.
Microsoft has pledged to spend €4bn on France, while Amazon will invest €1.2bn.
Last year, the UK hosted a similar summit on foreign investment where it announced around £30bn in commitments. This was double what France did.
President Macron has also indicated his willingness to allow for more bank mergers in Europe.
He told Bloomberg that he was willing to allow a French bank to be acquired by an overseas rival in order to spur more consolidation on the continent.
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