If you’re a budding African investor with an eagle eye for lucrative opportunities, perhaps you’ve considered extending your interests in other nations around the world?
But where do you have the best chance of a good ROI?
The US is still the world’s largest economy and China is snapping at its heels in many sectors, but how about Europe?
Despite its current challenges, Europe still offers many lucrative investment opportunities, several of which are open to non-EU citizens.
1. UK
Britain might no longer be an EU member, but there are still plenty of investment opportunities in good old Blighty.
According to UK Department for International Trade (DIT) stats, UK inward investment projects increased in the 2019/20 reporting period, with 1852 new projects, equating to an increase of 4% on the previous year.
In terms of sectors to look into, advanced engineering and supply chain, electronics and communication, and software and computer sciences are promising for long-term investors.
2. France
Across the English Channel lies France, land of tasty cheeses, strong coffee, fierce fashion, and, as it transpires, excellent investment opportunities.
There have been some recent changes to the foreign investment control regime recently and these are worth taking note of – particularly that from 1 April 2020 the ownership threshold that triggers an automatic approval requirement for non-EU investors has been lowered from 33.33% to 25%.
However, this shouldn’t deter serious investors and the French Foreign Affairs Ministry is at pains to point out that France is a global economic power at the heart of the EU (with all the advantages that come from open borders and regulatory alignment), Paris is Europe’s leading financial centre and France ranks 6th in the world in terms of domestic research and development spending.
3. Portugal
Portugal is perhaps better known as a tourist destination to most people outwith Europe, but it’s actually an emerging economic powerhouse with lots of investment potential.
This former Maritime superpower on the Iberian Peninsula introduced a range of attractive tax measures for EU and non-EU investors in 2009 and these have stimulated significant inward investment, particularly from Chinese investors.
Specialist realtors like Property Lisbon can advise on the Golden Visa scheme – a property by investment system whereby non-EU citizens can gain Portuguese (and by extension EU) citizenship in just six years, with no requirement to move permanently to Portugal from the time of application to approval. Properties of a value of €500,000, €350,000, and €280,000 can qualify and certain conditions apply, but it’s certainly worthy of consideration for anyone who wants to plug directly into the EU investment arena.
Capital is always at risk in any investment and you should only take advice from qualified experts, but any of these three diverse nations could provide a handsome return if you operate wisely.
That’s our list! Let us know in the comments section which European country you would invest in.