UK chases post-Olympic gold from China

LONDON - After Team GB pocketed its most-ever gold medals at the London Games in more than 100 years, a new gold rush is underway for the British government and investment officials as they roll out an ambitious campaign to lure foreign capital to London's post-Olympic regeneration.

Under the spotlight is Stratford, one of the capital's most diverse and economically deprived areas in East London where the Olympic Park is located. The British government and local officials are hoping to develop the 283-hectare site and surrounding area into a new commercial district.

An investment project of the International Quarter in Stratford, valued at 1.3 billion pounds ($2 billion), will begin in early 2013 and local authorities believe it will unlock huge investment possibilities for both domestic and international investors.

"We have to go there and to sell it to foreign investors," said Daniel Moylan, chairman of the London Legacy Development Corporation.

"It is a great place for corporate headquarters and a great place to invest in retail. But there are not just the commercial and corporate opportunities. We are also looking for people who actually want to invest in the long-term residential property," he said.

He cited resilient infrastructure, good connectivity in terms of transportation, and the potential of a young population as the reasons Stratford and the surrounding areas is an attractive destination for investment.

Besides the government funds that are being pumped into the projects, London is also eyeing cash-rich foreign investors from emerging economies such as China as the source of inward investment.

This was reflected by the red-carpet treatment received by the 30-strong delegation from the China Entrepreneurs Club who visited London during the Games.

Matt Beasley, project director with Lend Lease which is responsible for the delivery of the International Quarter in Stratford, said that he was in dialogue with a number of occupiers and investors from China.

"Stratford, a hub of transportation in London with well-developed infrastructure in place, provides great opportunities for Chinese companies to bring their headquarters here," he said.

To help the cash-strapped country woo global businesses, British Prime Minister David Cameron also launched one of his most high-powered attempts during the London Games to use the Olympics as a global stage to demonstrate the UK as an attractive investment destination with its ambitious infrastructure projects.

He said that the country is committed to providing "individualized services" for companies and entrepreneurs who are interested in investing in the UK.

The UK's Department of Trade and Industry predicted the Olympics will generate 13 billion pounds of inward investment for the country in the next few years, outstripping the 9 billion pounds cost of hosting the event.

London Mayor Boris Johnson was also on a campaign to support the capital's reinvigoration during the Olympic Games. He said London could be the motor of the country's economic recovery as he repeatedly boasted in speeches "as a great city that has twice as many bookshops as New York, more Michelin starred restaurants than Paris and even more rain than Rome."

The post-Olympic regeneration project in Stratford and its surrounding areas is expected to create at least 8,000 new homes, five new neighborhoods and at least 92,903 square meters of office development. In the meantime, new jobs will be generated throughout the investment schemes.

"We are in the transforming process which the Olympics has accelerated. Without this Olympic investment, we would not have been able to turn Stratford from an abandoned land into a fantastic Olympic park," said Moylan with the London Legacy Development Corporation.

"What we are going to do the moment the Games are over is to start moving that transformation forward. We are planning to attract millions of businesses a year and I think that is perfectly achievable," he said.

But it is not just cash that London is willing to attract in its post-Olympic regeneration plan.

Attracting talent and improving local education are also on top of the agenda.

"The most transformative thing we could do over a generation is to improve education in the local communities," Moylan said. "The biggest legacy we could provide is to work with the local authorities and the London Mayor to prepare kids for jobs in the country."

Besides creating new businesses and new homes in Stratford, Moylan said two additional new primary schools will be built in the new residential communities which will be finished in 2017.

Beasley with Lend Lease also said educational institutions are also welcome to bring campus into the area.

But visa issues remain the major hurdle for foreigners, especially Chinese investors and tourists, to cross if they are interested in coming to the UK.

"We are missing an opportunity because it is so expensive and so difficult, in comparison to cities we are competing against, to get to London," said John Burton, director of development at Westfield which recently invested 1.75 billion pounds to build a large-scale shopping center in the gateway to the Olympic Park.

"We still need to work with the government to find a way to make it easier for Chinese tourists to come to London...and to reinforce our accessibility," he said.

Gordon Innes, chief executive of the London Partners which facilitates foreign investment in the city, said the agency is working with the government to sort out visa issues.

"We see the desire and demand from Chinese tourists and businessmen to come to London and we need to sort out policy issues around visa processing," he said.