Investopedia: What is a 'Green Field Investment'?

Green Field Investment

What is a 'Green Field Investment'

A green field investment is a form of foreign direct investment where a parent company builds its operations in a foreign country from the ground up. In addition to the construction of new production facilities, these projects can also include the building of new distribution hubs, offices and living quarters.
VIDEO
Loading the player...
BREAKING DOWN 'Green Field Investment'

As opposed to a brown field investment, where leasing existing facilities and land results in relatively lower expenses, green field investments forwarded by multinational corporations entail higher risks and higher costs associated with building new factories or manufacturing plants.

Developing countries tend to attract prospective companies with offers of tax breaks, subsidies and other incentives to set up green field investments. While these concessions may result in lower corporate tax revenues in the short term, the economic benefits and the enhancement of local human capital can deliver positive returns over the long term.

The term "green field investment" refers to a project where a company builds the entirety of its operations in a foreign market starting from scratch, or a so-called green field. These projects are foreign direct investments that provide the highest degree of control for the sponsoring company. In these projects, the company’s plant construction is done to its own specifications, employees are trained to company standards and fabrication processes can be tightly controlled. This type of involvement is completely different than indirect investments, where companies may have little or no control in operations, quality control, sales and training.
Risks of Green Field Investments

As a long-term commitment, one of the greatest risks in green field investment is the relationship with the host country. Any circumstances or events that result in the company pulling out of a project at any time can be financially devastating.

Smaller risks include construction overruns, problems with permitting, difficulties in accessing resources and issues with local labor. Companies contemplating green field projects typically invest large sums of time and money in advance research to determine feasibility and cost-effectiveness.
Examples of Green Field Projects

In April 2015, Toyota announced its first green field project in Mexico in three years, a $1.5 billion manufacturing plant in Guanajuato. The factory is scheduled to open in 2019 with 2,000 employees and capacity to produce 200,000 cars per year. In total, Mexico attracted 366 green field investment projects in 2014, due in large part to the low costs of labor and manufacturing in the country, as well as its proximity to markets in the United States.
Next Up Brown Field Investment

    Green Field Investment
    Brown Field Investment
    Green Economics
    Green Tech
    Green Bond
    Green Card
    Green Chip Stocks
    Green collar
    Foreign Direct Investment - FDI
    Green Shoots

Brown Field Investment
Share

Brown field investment, also referred to as "brownfield" is when a company or government entity purchases or leases existing production facilities to launch a new production activity. This is one strategy used in foreign-direct investment. The alternative to this is a green field investment, in which a new plant is constructed.
BREAKING DOWN 'Brown Field Investment'
Brown field investing covers both the purchase and the lease of existing facilities. At times, this approach may be preferable, as the structure already stands. Not only can it result in cost savings for the investing business, it can also avoid certain steps that are required in order to build new facilities on empty lots, such as building permits and connecting utilities.

The term brown field refers to the fact that the land itself may be contaminated by the prior activities that have taken place on the site, a side effect of which may be the lack of vegetation on the property. When a property owner has no intention of allowing further use of vacant brown field property, it is referred to as a mothballed brownfield. Sites that are significantly contaminated, such as by hazardous waste, are not considered to be brown field properties.
Read More +

    Work With Investopedia
    About Us Advertise With Us Contact Us Careers

© 2017, Investopedia, LLC. Feedback All Rights Reserved Terms Of Use Privacy Policy