Publications
UK Private Equity After COVID-19: Same Old, Same Old?
Insights – June 2021
As U.K. private equity adjusts to post-pandemic life, changes to the industry caused or accelerated by COVID-19 may have a long-term impact, including more varied investment approaches, greater sectoral focus and heightened ESG scrutiny.
COVID-19’s Impact on M&A Transactions and Material Adverse Effect Clauses
Latin America Dispute Resolution Update - March 2021
The Impact of COVID-19 on Construction and Infrastructure Projects
Latin America Dispute Resolution Update - March 2021
France Issues Interim Rules on Certain Foreign Investments in Response to COVID-19
July 28, 2020
The French government has issued interim rules that lower the applicable threshold triggering French foreign investment control for investments by non-European investors in certain French publicly listed corporations. The rules are part of the government's policy response to the economic implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for French strategic assets.
Moss Bros: The Difficulty of Invoking MAC Conditions in UK Public Takeovers
May 20, 2020
The Takeover Panel has confirmed again in the Brigadier Acquisition Company/Moss Bros case how difficult it is for bidders to invoke material adverse change conditions and lapse offers in the UK. Potential suitors for UK public companies should stay alert to the significant hurdles they face in trying to walk away from an offer once they have made a firm intention announcement.
France Moves To Protect Strategic Assets Amid COVID-19 Pandemic
May 1, 2020
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the French Minister of the Economy recently announced changes to foreign investment rules intended to protect French strategic assets. The measures include lowering the threshold that triggers French foreign investment control for investments by non-European foreign investors in certain French public companies. The minister also issued an administrative order that added biotechnology to the list of critical technologies subject to French foreign investment control.
Despite Pandemic, CFIUS Continues FIRRMA Implementation and Activities
April 29, 2020
On April 27, 2020, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) issued an interim rule on filing fees. The interim rule makes filing fees effective on May 1, 2020, and follows CFIUS' March 2020 notice of proposed rulemaking regarding filing fees, largely maintaining the proposed rule, including its fee structure, which ranges from zero to $300,000, depending on the value of the transaction.
Crisis Prompts European Countries To Step Up Protections Against Foreign M&A
April 20, 2020
As the coronavirus pandemic impacts European companies, the EU and various national governments have begun to take steps to prevent foreign investors from taking advantage of the crisis to acquire companies of strategic importance. Acquirers should consider the possibility that governments will review and challenge acquisitions of companies they perceive to be strategic national assets, through such measures as foreign investment reviews, committee inquiries, state defensive stake-building or even nationalisation of vulnerable companies.
COVID-19: Germany Update — How Will the Pandemic Affect Private M&A Deals in Europe?
April 13, 2020
As the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted M&A activity around the world, sellers and buyers will need to assess the landscape for completing deals once the effects of the pandemic begin to subside, including analyzing how the process might change going forward given the altered business circumstances.
COVID-19: Early Effects on Foreign Investment Regimes and Trade Enforcement
April 1, 2020
In the rapidly changing global investment environment, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States remains fully operational. Although some COVID-19 delays are possible, CFIUS is, for now, maintaining its continued focus on China-related transactions and will likely increase scrutiny of health and pharmaceutical sector deals. Simultaneously, foreign direct investment controls are beginning to intensify in Europe, and certain pandemic-related economic responses by governments around the world may themselves implicate some of CFIUS' most recent reforms.