Foreign Investment

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On October 17, 2024, the European Commission (“Commission“) published its forth annual report on the screening of foreign direct investments (“FDI“) into the Union (the “Report“), following previous editions published in October 2023, September 2022 and November 2021. Notable findings include the follow:Continue Reading EU FDI: State Of The Union (2024)

On October 28, 2024, the U.S. Department of the Treasury (“Treasury”) issued a long-awaited Final Rule (the “Final Rule”) implementing the U.S. Outbound Investment Security Program (the “Program”).[1] Under the Program, effective January 2, 2025, U.S. persons will be prohibited from engaging in, or required to notify Treasury regarding, a broad range of transactions involving entities engaged in certain activities relating to semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies, and artificial intelligence (“AI”) systems in “countries of concern” (presently limited to China, Hong Kong, and Macau).

Please click here to read the full alert memorandum.Continue Reading Long-Awaited U.S. Outbound Investment Regime Published, Will Become Effective January 2, 2025

  • United States: CFIUS releases 2023 Annual Report; expanded scope for CFIUS jurisdiction and filing requirements; new export controls on quantum computing and other advanced technologies.
  • United Kingdom: Annual Report published; remedies imposed on four transactions.
  • European Union: First merger commitments adopted under EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation.
  • Belgium: First Annual Report on Belgian FDI Screening; revised notification forms and guidelines.
  • France: Close scrutiny for foreign investment in pharmaceutical sector (Biogaran and Doliprane).
  • Germany: Prohibition of Chinese investment in gas turbine sector.
  • Italy: Annual Report shows that volume of filings remain high but majority deemed out-of-scope and intervention rates low (22 out of 563 filings).
  • Netherlands: Proposal for new sectoral investment control regime for defense industry.
  • Spain: Government prohibits €619 million acquisition of Spanish train manufacturer Talgo by Hungarian consortium

Continue Reading Global FDI Update: July – September 2024

  • Belgium issues first statistics on its FDI regime: vast majority cleared in phase I, a handful in phase II, and one ex officio investigation.
  • EU Commission starts showing its teeth in the enforcement of the Foreign Subsidies Regulation, with the first ex officio investigations.
  • France publishes its 2023 FDI report, with filing numbers and outcomes that are largely consistent with previous years.
  • Germany’s plans to overhaul its FDI regime slow down amid political controversies.
  • Italy authorizes Safran’s acquisition of RTX’s actuator business, reversing its initial veto, in light of Safran’s commitments.
  • Rotterdam court issues first judgment under the new Dutch FDI regime, ruling against the Government.
  • Four years of Spanish FDI screening: an overview.
  • UK Government issues updated guidelines on National Security & Investment Act (NSIA).
  • President Biden issues order requiring Chinese owner to divest cryptocurrency mining facility near U.S. military base.

Continue Reading Cleary Gottlieb FDI Newsletter: April – June 2024

On 21 May 2024, the UK Government published updated guidance on the application of the National Security and Investment Act (NSIA).  This includes:Continue Reading UK Government Publishes Updated Guidance on the Application of the National Security and Investment Act

On April 11, the U.S. Department of the Treasury (“Treasury”), as Chair of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”), issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (the “Proposed Rule”) that would modify and expand CFIUS’s mitigation and enforcement authority. Continue Reading Treasury Issues Proposed Rule to Enhance CFIUS Mitigation and Enforcement

  • The European Commission proposes a revised EU FDI Screening Regulation
  • EU takes time to ready Outbound Investment Control Toolkit
  • German FDI reviews dropped in 2023, but FDI review activity follows the trends of prior years
  • Italian FDI reviews in 2023 remained consistently high, despite the end of the extraordinary provisions enacted in connection with the Covid-19 outbreak
  • UK: NSIA decisions, Telegraph Media Group public interest review, and new legislation prohibiting foreign state ownership of newspapers
  • In the U.S., updates to the Critical and Emerging Technologies list signal refinement of focus for CFIUS.

Continue Reading Cleary Gottlieb FDI Newsletter: January – March 2024

The U.S. National Science and Technology Council (NSTC)[1] recently published an updated list of critical and emerging technologies (CETs) as part of an ongoing effort to identify advanced technologies that are potentially significant to U.S. national security.  We previously summarized the February 2022 list of CETs from the NSTC here.Continue Reading Updates to the Critical and Emerging Technologies List Signal Refinement of Focus