Companies in the U.K. are flocking out of the country because of Brexit, and this may be good news for Dutch business.
Approximately 250 businesses are discussing a potential relocation to the Netherlands with the Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency, according to a Japan Times report. These corporations may join the 42 companies that made the move in 2018 and the 18 businesses that relocated in 2017. “I wouldn’t be surprised if the largest Brexit wave is yet to come,” NFIA leader Jeroen Nijland said to the Japan Times. “It normally takes about six months to two years from the first conversation we have with a company before it makes a decision, and our pipeline is now bigger than in earlier years.”
This mass relocation will champion the Netherlands as a winner in attracting businesses that leave the U.K. from Brexit. The European Medicines Agency decided to move from London to Amsterdam in 2017, which has lured companies in the financial and media sectors to make the same move, Nijland said. Corporations from these industries must possess permits to operate in the European Union, and if they don’t, they can’t operate in the bloc. For instance, Discovery Inc. discussed its application for broadcast licenses in the Netherlands. This move will ensure its TV channels will continue to show across the European Union in case of a no-Deal Brexit.
In 2018, Amsterdam’s metropolitan area drew in 28 companies as a result of Brexit, the municipality said on Saturday, according to the Japan Times. The city estimates that 1,937 jobs will spur from Brexit over the next three years, which contrasts the 170 Brexit-related jobs that came into the city in 2017. Some of these companies would’ve chosen the U.K. if not for Brexit, like Japanese bank Norinchukin, according to the press release from the municipality.
