Foreign Direct Investment and National Security

KPMG’s global antitrust and foreign investment practice brings together over 220 legal professionals in over 59 jurisdictions, working closely alongside our deals, tax and economics advisory colleagues. We combine practical expertise in national regimes with strategic advice, drawing on our critical insights into sensitive sectors to navigate investor and sellers through all stages of the foreign investment and national security cycle.

In a world where geo-political and macro-economic conditions are ever-changing, and governments are increasingly focused on protecting the sanctity of domestic supply chains, the regimes which facilitate scrutiny over the national security implications of investment (foreign or domestic) and corporate restructuring can play a significant role. At one end of the scale, national regulatory regimes may result in the need to make mandatory suspensory notifications may impact the overall deal timetable. At the other, government intervention might lead to restrictions being placed on investors rights or, in the most extreme cases, to deals being blocked.

With over 100 foreign investment or national security regimes in place worldwide, any complex cross-border M&A or global restructuring exercise will need to take a multi-jurisdictional approach to risk and issue screening. Whilst there are some broad similarities in the sectors of interest (e.g. defence, critical suppliers to government, communications and energy infrastructure) there are quirks in scope and process that benefit from knowledge and experience in local markets.

• Multi-jurisdictional screening – understanding deal structures and presence in sensitive sectors
• Risk benchmarking - assessing national security risks and areas of concern (target risk, acquirer risk and control risk)
• Remedy proposals and implementation - identifying possible remedies to alleviate regulatory concerns (for example, information siloes and board make-up) and supporting Parties through the implementation of those remedies in pactice

• Drafting notifications, including advocacy on national security concerns
• Responding to RFIs and dealing with any supplemental submissions
• Engagement with authorities, including with respect to potential remedies

• Support development of processes and tools for streamlining the gathering and maintenance of data to support FDI analysis and the preparation of notifications
• Training on best practice, trends and regulatory developments for legal and deal teams

• Merger control
• Antitrust investigations and compliance
• Subsidy control and Foreign Subsidies Regulation
• Economic and Utility Regulation