Foreign direct investment

European Commission, European Union, Foreign direct investment, Foreign investment, Foreign subsidies

, (Pérez-Llorca, Spain)/ /Leave a comment

“All animals are equal but some are more equal than others” (George Orwell, ‘Animal Farm’) On 28 November 2022, the Council of the European Union gave its final approval to the new EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation 2022/2560 (the FSR). The regulation addresses distortions created by subsidies that are granted by non-EU countries to companies operating…

Burden of Proof, Foreign direct investment, Spain

, (Pérez-Llorca, Spain)/ /Leave a comment

Almost two and a half years have passed since Spain’s Royal Decree Laws 8/2020, of 17 March, on extraordinary urgent measures to address the economic and social impact of COVID-19, 11/2020, of 31 March, adopting additional urgent social and economic measures to address COVID-19, and 34/2020, of 17 November, on urgent measures to support business…

European Commission, European Union, Foreign direct investment, Foreign investment

(Norton Rose Fulbright, Belgium)/ /Leave a comment

Regulation 2019/452 (as amended, the FDI Regulation) inserted the European Commission (the Commission) into a hitherto jealously guarded area of EU Member State authority – screening of foreign direct investment (FDI) for threats to security and public order.  The FDI Regulation sets out minimum requirements for Member States’ FDI screening regimes and a mechanism for…

Foreign direct investment, Foreign investment, Spain

, (Pérez-Llorca, Spain)/ /1 Comment

With the much-debated reforms to Act 19/2003, of 4 July, on capital movements (“Act 19/2003”), the Spanish foreign direct investment (“FDI”) regime has been expanded over the past few years.  However, FDI screening in relation to defense investments predates Act 19/2003 (and the recent FDI hype more broadly), and was regulated in Royal Decree 664/1999…

European Commission, Foreign direct investment, Foreign investment, Hungary, Merger control, Mergers

(Pérez-Llorca, Spain) and (Pérez-Llorca)/ /Leave a comment

Background The recent proliferation of foreign direct investment regimes (“FDI”) in Europe baffles practitioners and deal makers alike.  Why is my acquisition of, say, a developer of grapes in Spain potentially subject to CFIUS-like rules?  Can my carefully crafted leveraged buyout of a niche Polish producer of NFTs derail out of national security concerns because…

Aviation, Canada, Foreign direct investment

(Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP, Canada)/ /Leave a comment

The discussion of foreign investment law in Canada usually centres around the net benefit and national security review provisions of the Investment Canada Act (ICA). However, foreign investors must also be aware of different sector-specific laws in Canada that impose limits on foreign ownership of businesses in those sectors, including whether they exercise “control in…

Foreign direct investment, Switzerland

, (Lenz & Staehelin)/ /Leave a comment

Switzerland is one of the world’s largest recipients of foreign investments – but does not yet have a general regime for the systematic screening of foreign investments. As mandated by Parliament, the Federal Council, the Swiss government, has now issued a preliminary draft legislation for public consultation proposing to introduce a foreign investment regime in…

Canada, Foreign direct investment, Foreign investment, Russia

, (Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP, Canada)/ /Leave a comment

On March 8, 2022, the government of Canada issued a policy statement regarding the review of Russian investments under the Investment Canada Act (ICA): https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/ica-lic.nsf/eng/lk81228.html. The policy statement was issued in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which the government called “unprovoked and unjustifiable”, and affects the application of both the ICA’s “net benefit” review…

Canada, Foreign direct investment

, , (Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP, Canada) and (Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP)/ /Leave a comment

The past year generated substantial interest in the operation of Canada’s principal legislation governing the review of foreign investments, the Investment Canada Act (“ICA”). In particular, attention was focused on the ICA’s national security review process, which authorizes the Canadian government to block investments by non-Canadians that would be “injurious” to Canada’s national security. We…

European Union, Foreign direct investment, Foreign investment, Foreign subsidies, Merger control, Podcast, Trade Law

(University of Vienna, Austria)/ /Leave a comment

We are happy to announce the new International Law Talk Podcast episode on the interrelations between merger control, FDI, subsidy control & EU trade law. In the episode, I discuss with competition and trade experts and my former colleagues François-Charles Laprévote and Wanjie Lin from Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP. We focus on the…