Macron Invites Global Companies to ‘Choose France’

France’s president is due to unveil billions in investments in his country by global businesses.

Emmanuel Macron has invited around 200 business leaders to Versailles on Monday (May 15), according to a report Sunday (May 14) by Bloomberg News.

The meeting — which will include the heads of Pfizer and Disney — is known as the “Choose France” summit and is designed to showcase Macron’s ability to attract foreign investments following a brutal battle over pension reform, the Bloomberg report noted.

According to the report, industry minister Roland Lescure told France Info radio Sunday that the event would include the announcement of a $770 million investment in a solar plant. And last week, Macron traveled to Dunkirk in northern France to confirm Taiwan’s ProLogium Technology will invest as much as €5.2 billion to build a factory in the region.

The Bloomberg report notes that investments commitments announced at past summits haven’t always materialized, and in some cases the promised investments have included elements already determined by the companies.

Macron has said that investment projects to be announced on Monday will add up to more than $10 billion, coming at a time when France is leading Germany and the U.K. in attracting foreign investments, with the number of new projects increasing as those countries decline.

This is happening at a time when — as PYMNTS reported last year — London is trying to reclaim its status as a global financial hub, losing ground to cities like Paris and Frankfurt.

France’s startup community managed to thrive last year, despite increasing investor concerns and a dip in valuations of many global companies.

As PYMNTS reported in February, data from the government-backed initiative La French Tech showed that local startups, including eight newly minted unicorns, took in a record €13.5 billion in 2022, up 16% from the roughly €11 billion secured in 2021.

Some of the startups have benefited from mega fundraising rounds (more than €100 million) and went on to reach unicorn status — meaning their valuation exceeded $1 billion.

“Overall, the report noted that combined revenues — which is assessed as part of the evaluation criteria — of all 120 ranked companies totaled €11.3 billion in 2022, compared with €9.5 billion the year prior, with more than 70% of the companies doubling their revenues from 2019 to 2022,” PYMNTS wrote.