- United Kingdom: according to a survey published by ZEPHUS and conducted at the request of the public agency for foreign investments INVEST IN UK, France has become the second largest investor in the United Kingdom in 2000 with a record total of £38 bn, against only £2.6 bn in 1999. It is not so much the number of operations that allowed for this increase but rather their value, with 56 operations in 1999 to 61 in 2000. This amount remains spectacular, although the takeover of ORANGE by FRANCE TELECOM alone represents over two-thirds of the total amount (£30.9 bn). Generally-speaking, the amount of foreign investments in the UK increased more than threefold this year, at £141 bn, against 47.5 bn in 1999. The United States alone represented almost a third of total investments with a total of £43.8 bn. Germany also increased its investment threefold in the country from £9.8 bn to 30 bn in one year with a steep increase in the volume of transactions (81 against 58 in 1999).