The investment package from US companies in the UK was announced during White House leader Donald Trump’s state visit to the UK. Blackstone has pledged to make its biggest private investment as Microsoft, Openai, Nvidia and others have pledged to put $200 billion into the UK. On Wednesday evening, it was announced that the UK government had made a £90 billion ($121.5 billion) advanced capital commitment built on the previously announced £10 billion to allocate to data center support. In dollar terms, the total commitment from Blackstone is only $135 billion at current exchange rates. “We plan to invest in over £100 million in UK assets over the next decade,” a Blackstone spokesperson told CNBC in an email on Friday. “This includes investments in businesses, real estate, infrastructure and private credit.” The “ripple effect” in the UK market is unclear which specific companies or projects Blackstone will add to the portfolio, but Mark Presket, senior portfolio manager at Morning StarWealth, told CNBC that global investors are likely to be aware of Blackstone’s great interest in the UK. Pressket said Morningstar saw the UK as one of the “more attractive destinations” of investment capital, but he agreed that this was not a consensus among market participants. “If we judge the market sentiment towards the UK regarding the flow of investors funds, it’s a very opposite play. This is very weak,” he explained in an email on Friday. “The Blackstone Pledge is a big vote of trust in the UK market, and investment in areas such as real estate, private credit, infrastructure can create ripple effects, attract additional influx, and highlight the UK’s position as a place of investment.” Investor sentiment in the UK has been attenuated in recent years by Brexit, stagnant economy, political turmoil, and long-standing questions about the country’s finances. Figures released by the UK government in May revealed that foreign direct investment in the UK had dropped significantly in 2023, falling from £22.9 billion the previous year to £1.3 billion. IPO funding in the London market has weakened to its 30-year low in the first half of this year, the latest blow to the UK capital. Dan Coatsworth, an investment analyst at AJ Bell, told CNBC on Friday that Blackstone’s investment in the UK could potentially return capital to the country. “Blackstone clearly sees a big opportunity in the UK, which sends a positive signal to the wider business community,” he said in an email. “Big investments can lay the foundation for creating hubs and act like a magnet to portray companies with similar interests.” However, the word of caution, however, AJ Bell’s Courtworth also suggested that investors should not expect Blackstone’s capital commitment to quickly change the UK outlook. “Blackstone is planning to invest a significant amount of cash, but it’s not clear where all this money will unfold,” he told CNBC. “There’s no sudden boom in activity as the £100 billion investment plan has also spread over a decade.” Britishamerican Business CEO Duncan Edwards told CNBC’s Squawk Box Europe on Thursday that he didn’t see exactly how much money actually reached the UK. “It was a pretty perfect 24 hours… from the UK government’s perspective – they couldn’t ask for more announcements over the last three days,” he said, referring to a collective package that includes Blackstone’s £100 billion commitment. “But) you need to be a little careful about the numbers. The promised dollars are famously not the same as the actual dollars. So you just have to look at what’s going on over the next few months and years and make sure you’re actually committed to the announcements that have been made.”
