Organising an investment

摘要

The procedure for establishing a company in the UK is identical for British and foreign investors. No approval mechanisms exist for foreign investment; foreigners may freely establish or purchase enterprises in the UK, with few exceptions, and acquire land or buildings. Foreign ownership is limited in only a few strategic privatised companies, such as BAE Systems (aircraft and defence) and Rolls-Royce (engineering). No individual foreign shareholder may own more than 15% of these companies. Theoretically, the government can block the acquisition of manufacturing assets from abroad by invoking the Industry Act 1975, but it has never done so. Investments in energy and power generation require environmental approvals. In 2018 the government announced new rules on takeovers applying to businesses in the military and dual-use, computer hardware and quantum technology sectors. These were extended to three further sectors (artificial intelligence, cryptographic authentication and advanced materials) in July 2020.