European Union and United States legislators are increasingly concerned about the potentially distortive effects “foreign” subsidies may have on M&A transactions. EU and US authorities are both poised to require transaction parties to provide extensive information to allow authorities to evaluate subsidies granted by other jurisdictions. How do these initiatives compare, and how will the…

The EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR) gives the European Commission (the Commission) broad powers to investigate and remedy distortions of the European Union (EU) internal market caused by non-EU subsidies and subjects significant acquisitions and public tenders to a new EU notification and approval regime. The Commission’s publication of an implementing regulation (the Implementing Regulation)…

In Goethe’s famous poem “Der Zauberlehrling”, a sorcerer’s apprentice enchants a broom to do the work for him, using magic in which he is not yet fully trained. The floor is soon flooded with water, and the apprentice realizes that he cannot stop the broom because he does not know how. His famous words “The…

The European Union’s (EU’s) new Foreign Subsidies Regulation (FSR), entered into force on January 12, 2023.  The FSR creates a unique new quasi-antitrust regime to combat distortions of competition in the EU internal market caused by subsidies multinationals receive outside the EU.  It imposes new mandatory notification and approval requirements for acquisitions of significant EU…

On 6 February 2023, the European Commission (“EC”) published the draft Implementing Regulation and notification forms (together: the “IR”) relating to the EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation (“FSR”). The EC has launched a four-week public consultation period that will allow stakeholders to comment; i.e., there may still be changes to the IR. However, it can in…