Is The UK Slowly Being Sold to Wealthy Foreign Investors?

When a nation's economy is struggling and there is little money left in the government coffers or in the business community to invest into it, what is a country to do? It does what many others have done in the past and still do today. They look to other countries around the world who has some money and may be interested if there were investments worth considering. For many nations today seeking some substantial foreign investments, they don’t have to look much farther than China or the Arab Gulf nations. It seems they have lots of money to invest in other countries and both regions have been spending money lately like it is going out of style.

The interesting fact is that the Arab Gulf Nations and China have been making really good investments of value such as many port and transport infrastructures that they can manage and make all kinds of huge returns. Also in the UK, some of the most prestigious and iconic buildings and institutions are owned by Qatar, such as the grocery chain Sainsbury’s, BAA (British Airports Authority), the London Stock Exchange, Barclays, and the Shard of Glass development, Europe’s tallest building. It looks as if they went into the UK and said "we have tons of money to spend and we want to only buy the finest investments that you have available." It’s nice to do if you have the money and China, the UAE and Qatar are all flowing with an abundance of it and are making massive investments all around the world and getting them at bargain basement prices.

Who can blame these nations for making the best investment they can with what they have available to invest? Even the average investor wants to invest in the best investments and business opportunities they can, with what little investment money they have. The problem is that they don’t always have the luxury of a steady flow of oil revenues to fall back on if if doesn't go according to expectations. That is why for any investor, it is absolutely essential to conduct good proper research before making any type of commitment. It increases the odds of making the right choice at the start so the returns will come in as expected in the future.

It is probably a good thing for the United Kingdom that they have such a good relationship with some Arab Gulf nations. They will never be short of cash to help in the future if the UK runs into problems in the future, which is a good probability considering that they haven’t done much to restructure their banking systems to avoid another similar catastrophe like the one that began in 2008. With that being said, it all comes with a price. In the case of the UK, the price they have had to pay is having to sell off some of their antiquities and prized possessions, just to help pay some creditors with outstanding debts from the past. Let’s hope the trend doesn't continue and the UK can still offer opportunities that give investors confidence and reasons to consider investing.