Foreign Direct Investment - FDI

A foreign direct investment, or FDI, is like getting married: it’s meant to be a long-term engagement, but it doesn’t always end up that way.

A foreign direct investment is an investment made by one firm (or individual) into a business investment in a different country. The “direct” in foreign direct investment means this isn’t the same as having some foreign stock in your mutual fund. Direct investment means the investor has a lot of say in who ends up owning and running the place. Foreign direct investors aren’t looking to get-in-and-get-out...rather, they’re in it for the long haul.

Greenfield investments (when a parent company births new facilities in a foreign country) and brownfield investments (when a company buys already existing facilities in a foreign country) are both forms of foreign direct investment. The grass is often greener...but sometimes browner.