Huddersfield has emerged as an inward investment hotspot .

The town was one of the most popular targets for foreign investors in 2013 – with five businesses attracting bidders from overseas in the first three quarters of the year.

Details of the deals emerge in figures from business information group Experian, which showed that the North West, South West and Yorkshire experienced the most inward investment deals by foreign companies – outside of London – during the nine-month period.

While London and the South East led with 193 deals, foreign-led deals in the North West, South West and Yorkshire rose the fastest and in some cases outperformed the full year’s performance from 2012.

There were 30 deals in Yorkshire compared with 38 in the North West and 31 in the South West – ahead of Scotland on 26, West Midlands on 24, East Anglia on 22, East Midlands on 18, the North East on 11 and Wales on nine.

To date, the most interest in UK targets has come from the USA, followed by France and Germany. US companies were involved in 152 of the 407 deals so far this year, followed by France with 28 deals and Germany on 27 deals.

Manufacturing was by far the biggest sector for inward investment, with over 141 manufacturing deals taking place in the UK involving overseas firms.

Firms in Yorkshire saw a three-fold increase in the number of deals from January to September 2013 – from 10 in 2012 to 30 deals so far this year. This was also mirrored by a large increase in the value of deals, up from �27m to �425m.

Eleven deals were struck by US firms followed by Germany on four and France on three, Manufacturing accounted for 11 deals with wholesale, retail and repair on seven and professional and business activities on six.

In Huddersfield, Moldgreen-based health and safety services firm SaferSpaces Ltd was bought by Shield Group Nederland BV, of the Netherlands, while Meltham-based Bolling Coffee was sold in a �4.37m deal to Bewleys Ltd, of Ireland.

Pharmaceuticals firm Max Healthcare Ltd, of Holmbridge, was acquired by Elder Pharmaceuticals Ltd, of India, while carbon fibre products business Absolute Engineering Ltd, of Skelmanthorpe, was taken over by US-based Pamarco Technologies LLC.

The highest-profile deal was the �221.11m takeover of Linthwaite-based pharmaceuticals firm Thornton & Ross Ltd by Germany’s STADA Arzneimittel AG last August.

Experian director Max Firth said: “The fact that British firms are increasingly attracting investment from foreign investors reveals the quality of businesses in this country. It’s also encouraging to see the manufacturing sector being a focus for so much of this attention after a tough few years.”