Yahoo Finance UK pharma giants pledge £430m investment in France after Macron charm offensive
Britain’s two biggest pharmaceutical companies have pledged £430m of investment in France after a charm offensive by Emmanuel Macron.
AstraZeneca and GSK have vowed to upgrade their facilities in the country as part of a flagship investment programme unveiled by the French president on Monday.
As part of the spending, AstraZeneca will commit €365m (£314m) to a factory in Dunkirk making asthma medicines, while GSK will spend an additional €140m on three production sites across the country.
Investment from the FTSE giants will coincide with an additional €500m from overseas rivals Pfizer and Novartis, meaning President Macron has secured nearly €1bn of inbound pharma investment.
This is in contrast to the UK where the Government in recent years has been accused of failing to back the pharma sector.
Tensions peaked last year when AstraZeneca chief executive Pascal Soriot said high taxes had made Britain “very unattractive” for business.
However, relations have since improved, with the company two months ago committing to a new £650m vaccine factory in Liverpool. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt also visited AstraZeneca’s site earlier this year.
President Macron’s investments were unveiled as part of the “Choose France” investment summit held at the Palace of Versailles yesterday.
More than 180 foreign business leaders attended the event, including the heads of Wall Street’s largest banks and top executives from tech giants Microsoft and Amazon.
The president announced a new record €15bn of foreign investment into the country from more than 50 multinationals, up from €13bn last year.
He said the country’s pro-business policies had “made France the most attractive country in Europe”.
An EY report launched alongside the summit also revealed that France is the most attractive European destination for foreign investment, outstripping the UK.
President Macron has long been hailed as a skilled dealmaker when it comes to schmoozing foreign executives.
A review last year by Lord Harrington, which sought to make the UK a more appealing investment destination, highlighted the strength of Mr Macron’s style.
It said that a number of top chief executives regularly received texts directly from the President, inviting them to the Palace of Versailles.
The Versailles event was attended by Mr Soriot and Wall Street banking elites such as Goldman Sachs chief David Solomon and JP Morgan boss Jamie Dimon.
French finance minister Bruno Le Maire is also set to meet the chief executive of Bank of America, Brian Moynihan and Morgan Stanley’s chief executive Ted Pick.
Among other investments, Microsoft pledged to invest €4bn in France while Amazon will spend €1.2bn.
The UK hosted a similar foreign investment summit last year where it unveiled around £30bn of commitments, double the French effort.
President Macron also signalled his willingness to allow more banking mergers across Europe.
He told Bloomberg he would be willing to let a French bank be acquired by a foreign rival to trigger more consolidation across the continent.
