Clifford Chance

UK reviews national security impact of foreign investment

27 October 2017

The UK Government has published proposals to strengthen its powers to review, and potentially block or unwind, foreign investments on national security grounds.

Short term proposals include amending the thresholds of the existing public interest regime to catch a broader range of investments in the military and dual use sector and the advanced technology sector. These could affect transactions that are currently under contemplation.

In the longer term, the Government is considering the introduction of a more extensive regime for screening transactions for national security issues. Options include powers to "call in" a wide range of foreign investments (including new projects and acquisitions of bare assets) for screening and/or a mandatory notification regime for foreign investment in certain key sectors such as nuclear, defence, energy, transport and telecoms.  

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