Foreign Direct Investment

By: Dimitris Vallindas & Charles Corbusier (Sheppard) In this piece, authors Dimitris Vallindas & Charles Corbusier (Sheppard) discuss the European Union's newly adopted Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Screening Regulation, which significantly...

Dear Readers,   This Chronicle explores the rapidly evolving intersection of foreign direct investment and technology, a space where traditional assumptions about openness, control, and market integration are being fundamentally...

This article examines the legal grey zones that arise in applying FDI screening to technology investments in Belgium. The article highlights two particularly thorny issues: when asset deals—especially those involving...

Dear Readers, Foreign direct investment (“FDI”) control is rapidly emerging as a key regulatory vector across the U.S, Europe, and worldwide. In the U.S., FDI control is primarily the responsibility of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”). In the EU, aside from the adoption of the EU FDI Regulation in 2019, […]

After around two years (or more) of intense activity in the emergence and upgrading of national foreign direct investment (“FDI”) regimes in Europe, certain of the competent FDI authorities and ministries are becoming more established in their approach. In particular, the implementation of FDI review powers and enforcement practices are beginning to be revealed in […]

Breaking up American “Big Tech” companies has in recent years been a topic of much discussion by policymakers and legislators across the political spectrum. Arguments for and against breakup offer various justifications and considerations, but less-discussed potential national security risks lurk within the larger debate — including that breaking up Big Tech could leave American […]

Recent developments regarding global competition enforcement and foreign direct investment, or FDI, review regimes have created uncertainty for cross-border transactions.  Specifically, global merger control authorities have become increasingly aggressive in “calling in” transactions under so-called “voluntary” regimes and a number of FDI review regimes recently have been established or expanded.  These developments have resulted in […]

We are in a world where U.S. pursuit of antitrust objectives through a policy of encouraging foreign direct investment is far more complex. On the one hand, public policy toward foreign direct investment increasingly must carefully balance significant tradeoffs: the potential benefits of greater competition with the heightened risks to national security. On the other […]

Almost five months have passed since the UK’s National Security and Investment Act 2021 (“NSIA”) took effect, radically overhauling the UK’s approach to foreign investment screening. Although hugely expansive in its scope and jurisdictional reach, generating a projected 1,000 – 1,830 filings per year, the UK Government’s intention was to establish an efficient and proportionate […]

Mergers and acquisitions are facing dual changing regulatory landscapes with respect to antitrust review and enforcement, and foreign investment into U.S. businesses under CFIUS.  Both sets of changes represent aggressive tightening, make is more challenging to gain approval, and add costs and time to deals that ultimately do win clearance. New theories of harm being advanced […]

In this article, the authors – European Commission experts in this new field – set out the background for the adoption of the European Union FDI Screening Regulation and explain its key features, including the cooperation mechanism established, and, the substantive test applied to review the potential impact of FDI transactions on security or public […]

The article provides an overview of recent developments in foreign direct investment (“FDI”) review across Europe. In describing what is meant by FDI review, it outlines that there is no unilateral definition for the concept of FDI, but a common trend towards more rigorous screening and extended mandatory filing requirements. Specific jurisdictional updates follow, concerning […]