Guest Blog: Why Inward Investment is the Most Important Growth Story
I’ve been doing deals in the North West for over 30 years and the pipeline of serious capital interest in this region is incredibly strong. It’s not only the volume of businesses but the quality is high too. Overseas strategic acquirers are building acquisition pipelines here – UK assets continue to be good value for money particularly from US buyers. Private Equity (PE) houses with sector mandates are dedicating time and money to grow ‘buy & build’ programmes with their key assets and are actively looking for new platforms to back in this region.
Based on the Department for Business and Trade’s 2024–2025 inward investment results, the North West remains a key region for foreign direct investment (FDI). While national figures showed a 12% drop in projects, the region continues to attract investment in manufacturing, technology, and green energy, driven by innovation shown across the region and the North West is the top performing region outside of London & the South East.
The EY UK Attractiveness Survey 2025 also showed North West FDI project numbers up 27% in a year in a period where most UK regions went backwards. Manchester overtook Birmingham as the top UK city for FDI outside London. The North West is also home to the largest mid-market Private Equity investment community outside of London – a testament to the attractiveness of the region. This allows investors to access an attractive pool of capital to support achieve their growth ambitions
And more capital is coming.
The conversations I’m having with international investors have changed in character. Innovation and Sustainable Growth aren’t box-ticking exercises – they’re critical to investment theses and allowing investors to deploy capital. Buyers and investors are asking questions earlier: How are you positioned for the energy transition? What is your ESG strategy? What’s your zero carbon pathway?
The Businesses we speak to in the region are increasingly aware of the need to demonstrate and evidence responses to the questions above (and more!) and when I look at what the North West has built — quietly, methodically, over the past five years — I think we have a genuinely compelling answers that underpins why investment is coming.
HyNet is the most significant example.
As part of commitments made by the Prime Minister and Energy Secretary, to develop a world leading carbon capture and storage (CCS) industry – Liverpool Bay CCS reached financial close in April 2025. It will lock away up to 4.5 million tonnes of CO2 annually and by 2050, HyNet is projected to add up to £17 billion in economic growth to this region. That is world-class green infrastructure not planned but in execution.
And Greater Manchester is targeting carbon neutrality by 2038, well ahead of the UK’s 2050 national target. Net-zero is not a cost centre for this city-region, it’s an economic engine.
For investors with sustainability mandates making ten-year capital allocation decisions, that matters enormously. Policy certainty and credible delivery frameworks are what they’re looking for. We have both.
Then there’s the innovation story.
The University of Manchester is top 10 globally for sustainability. Graphene came from here. The Manchester health innovation ecosystem draws pharmaceutical, biotech and medtech investment from across the globe. Alderley Park is one of Europe’s premier life sciences campuses.
Manchester’s digital economy is valued at £5 billion — one of Europe’s largest. The creative cluster that grew around MediaCity shows exactly what anchor inward investment can achieve as a catalyst. Talent attracts business. Business attracts investment. Investment attracts more talent.
The Innovation GM partnership has set out a blueprint targeting £7 billion in economic benefit and 100,000 jobs — an agenda that is actively shaping how the city-region directs R&D investment.
But here’s my honest challenge to the market.
All of this — the FDI numbers, the green infrastructure, the innovation ecosystem — creates a brilliant opportunity for the North West’s mid-market businesses. These businesses though need to be ‘investment ready’ well in advance of taking on growth capital in order to tell a compelling investment story
The capital is coming. The acquirers are building pipelines. The question is whether North West businesses are positioned to capture what’s heading their way.
The North West is an extraordinary place to do business. I’ve built a career here. I’ve seen this region punch above its weight, produce brilliant businesses and talented people, and demonstrate time and again that the right investment in the right hands creates lasting economic value.
Jonathan Boyers, Managing Director, Alvarez & Marsal