Western Mail Summit opportunity

IN AROUND five weeks, the First Minister will host her much- ‘vaunted international investment summit at ICC Wales in Newport.

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Who is attending and what projects will be pitched as investment-ready, has yet to be made public. However, the FM has rightly decided to keep it a focused affair that will attract investors not currently active in Wales. But what does Wales have that could offer prospective investors returns that would match or outperform investing in other asset classes?

If you look at what is investable in Wales - and firms seeking growth capital can easily fund investors with capital to deploy - how many projects have planning approval and are of significant scale to attract collectively billions in investment?

This will be the challenge for the First Minister and her officials. Just identifying, say, property investment opportunities in Swansea and Cardiff will hardly set the summit alight ~ besides, these types of opportunities are already well signposted.