Moving to London: the Big Apple's Mayor, looking to put the bite back into a troubled city

As the guests make their way up the sweeping staircase, past the Carrara marble columns, their eyes will be drawn to the sort of Modern Art collection to make a museum curator weep.

Lining the walls of the sitting room, overlooking one of London's most exclusive enclaves, is a selection of works from Jasper Johns to Henry Moore and Andy Warhol to Alexander Calder, valued at about £6m each.

Those on the guest list who had not read their embossed invitation closely might be forgiven for thinking they were walking into the tasteful bachelor pad of an ageing rock star or playboy aristocrat.

It is, as one visitor put it, an "entertainment palace", fitted out by a Manhattan interior designer with a taste for outlandish period furnishings whose clients also include Madonna. Only a lone portrait of George Washington, warrior turned statesman, offers a clue to the true identity – and inspiration – of the owner.

Welcome to one of the homes of Michael Bloomberg, financial data mogul, current Mayor of New York and a man with a mission to bring to the Big Apple the "best" that London can offer – from its richest companies to its congestion charging scheme.

Later this month Mr Bloomberg, 60, will launch a charm offensive that will spare no expense in its efforts to persuade the chief executives and directors of some of Britain's biggest enterprises, from publishers to pharmaceutical companies, to expand their operations and budgets across the Atlantic.

After decades of sitting in the shadow of its more dynamic American cousin, London has caught the eye of a financially challenged New York still reeling from the economic aftershock of 11 September. As one gleeful source in Ken Livingstone's Greater London Authority put it yesterday: "The Americans are coming and this time Mr Bloomberg is having to turn on the style to catch our attention."

Famed for producing some of the healthiest balance sheets ever seen in corporate America while the head of his company, Bloomberg LC, the Mayor of New York is looking to drum up inward investment that will help to alleviate the financial crisis in the institution he now heads.

New York City is currently facing a potential budget shortfall of $6bn (£3.75bn), causing Mr Bloomberg to impose a swingeing austerity plan cutting expenditure by 25-30 per cent – and causing a similar reduction in his own popularity.

The centrepiece of the corporate seduction will be a private dinner at the billionaire-turned-municipal kingpin's £5m residence in Cadogan Square in the heart of Belgravia.

After being left in the care of a lone housekeeper for at least two years, the house – one of five owned by Mr Bloomberg – will be dusted down on 20 March to host a cross-section of the British industrial elite. The super-select soiree will be preceded a day earlier by a reception at a London hotel hosted by Mr Bloomberg's deputy, Dan Doctoroff, for other high-powered executives.

Although officials at New York's City Hall were yesterday loath to reveal names of the companies carefully selected for the events, those known to be on the invitation list include Oxford University Press, the Anglo-Dutch publishing combine Reed Elsevier and the pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline.

The idea, seemingly, is for Mayor Bloomberg, the son of a dairy accountant, to enslave his entrepreneurial nouse and burgeoning contacts book to the service of boosting his city's bottom line.

Business leaders in London said they were not concerned at the risk of Mr Bloomberg poaching British jobs, hinting that the high cost of operating in New York, where property taxes have recently been increased by 25 per cent, would deter many companies.

A spokesman for the Confederation of British Industry said: "Everybody has a duty to make their case as a location for investment. We have certainly done that abroad on behalf of London and we have no problem with Mr Bloomberg doing so here. But it comes down to competitive edge."

Worryingly for the Bloomberg administration, none of the three London companies known to be on the Mayor's list were able to say yesterday whether they would be accepting the invitation.

But according to those who have been received by the Republican Mayor on his previous sorties across the Atlantic, those who attend Cadogan Square can expect not so much glitzy schmoozing as a sort of homely largesse.

Before entering the bearpit of New York politics, Mr Bloomberg was a regular feature on London's A-list party circuit, holding dinners with such figures as Lord Black, proprietor of the Telegraph Group, and Sir Terence Conran.

His patronage of the arts was expanded to include becoming a trustee of the Serpentine Gallery and the Old Vic Theatre after donations of about £250,000 to each. The Tate Modern and the Royal Court Theatre in Sloane Square have also been beneficiaries.

But since switching from a longstanding allegiance to the Democrats and spending roughly $50m of his own estimated fortune of $4bn on his way to victory in the aftermath of the 11 September attacks, the entertaining has been more understated. According to one anecdote, those attending the billionaire's farm in North Salem, New York State, for a recent Thanksgiving celebration were treated to a meal cooked by the host himself.

One high-profile acquaintance said: "He is a straightforward man. There is plenty of charisma and he knows how to entertain but you won't find much that is vulgar about him.

"Michael is an irreverent type – he has no truck with people who bullshit. If he wants you to come and invest in New York, he'll be utterly charming and you'll be under no illusions as to what he thinks you should do."

The same approach is likely to apply to the other subject that has apparently caught Mr Bloomberg's attention – the efforts of his London counterpart, Mr Livingstone, to combat his city's traffic-choked streets.

Reports from New York yesterday said that when the Bloomberg private jet touches down in London, its occupant will be eager to head for the congestion charging zone.

The meeting of minds between a nominally right-wing American who owns a Beaux Arts mansion in Manhattan and runs his city like a corporation and the former Labour left-winger who lives in a terraced house in Brent represents one of the world's more unusual political alliances.

Myron Magnet, a Republican adviser to Mr Bloomberg, said: "The Mayor is looking at the congestion charging scheme and wants to consult Ken Livingstone.

"It's an idea that free-market conservatives have been advocating for some time, so it's ironic that it has taken someone with Livingstone's record to demonstrate that it can work."

Mr Livingstone's office said only that the "close relationship" between the two cities was continuing.

Quite whether that will translate into a cosy exchange of views on the comparative aesthetic merits of Warhol and Moore over cognac and cigars in a Cadogan Square sitting room in 15 days' time remains to be seen.

A tale of two cities

Bloomberg's New York

The man: Democrat-turned-Republican. Billionaire bachelor media tycoon (Bloomberg TV etc) who had to follow the ultimate hard act to follow, Rudolph Giuliani.

The mayoral style: Lower profile, less hands-on, less populist than his predecessor, but seen as urbane and calm in a city not known for a low-key approach. Expensive suits.

The houses: New York State, Bermuda, London.

The hobbies: Collecting modern art (Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol), mainly hung in London

Drives: His own helicopter.

The city: Population eight million. Smartened up capital of the Western world, according to New Yorkers. Sex and the City and Woody Allen. Now for ever linked to 11 September.

Livingstone's London

The man: Left-leaning former leader of Greater London Council, who triumphantly returned from parliamentary obscurity to land mayoral post in the teeth of opposition from his own party. Which sacked him.

The mayoral style: Nasal-toned, chirpy man of the people. Criticised for not doing much, but suffers from lack of powers invested in role. Covets Bloomberg's control over police and schools. Wears Ozwald Boateng suits.

The houses: Brent, Brighton.

The hobbies: Breeding newts.

Drives: Doesn't. Uses Tube and taxis

The city: Population seven million. Multi-faceted, sometimes deprived, sometimes glamorous, always crowded capital of the Western world, according to Londoners. Tate Modern and the Tower of London.