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Foreign investment and national security law

As world leaders have explored protectionist policies in recent years, there has been a marked change in attitude towards foreign investment screening.

Foreign investment screening regimes provide authorities with the tools to review and actively intervene in transactions and in last two to three years we have seen key jurisdictions across Europe, Asia and North America either introducing or significantly expanding their regimes.

Historically, foreign investment regimes have primarily focussed on military and defence, but the concept of 'national security' has expanded to include key computing and other technology and critical infrastructure such as energy and telecoms, and is broadening further into sectors such as life sciences and food.

The trend towards protectionism, has been exacerbated by Covid-19 causing concern that assets need to be protected from opportunistic foreign buyers.

Looking ahead, foreign investment screening is not only set to remain a common feature of deal-making, but is likely to expand significantly to cover an ever-increasing range of transactions of all sizes and become increasingly sector-agnostic.

Our experience with foreign investment and national security regimes

Our global team of lawyers have cutting-edge experience, operating at policy-level and regularly appearing before authorities across Europe, the US and Asia, advising transactions that often raise complex and difficult foreign investment and competition issues.

Despite foreign investment regimes significantly expanding in recent years, we have maintained an enviable success rate in achieving clearances.

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