A Delaware financial management company said it received approval from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. to merge with another Delaware investment management company, according to its March 25 Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Waddell & Reed Financial said it filed a voluntary notice to CFIUS on Jan. 28 regarding its planned merger with Macquarie Management Holdings. After a 45-day review period, CFIUS said March 22 that there were “no unresolved national security concerns with respect to the merger and its review” was completed, Waddell & Reed said. While CFIUS clearance “satisfies a certain condition to the closing of the merger,” the company added that other conditions still need to be met before the merger is completed.
China placed retaliatory sanctions on U.S. and Canadian officials for their roles in promoting action against China for its human rights violations in the Xinjiang region against the Uyghur Muslim minority population (see 2103220034), a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson announced March 27. China levied an asset freeze and travel ban against U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom Chair Gayle Manchin, USCIRF Vice Chair Tony Perkins and Canadian Member of Parliament Michael Chong. Sanctions were also placed against Canada's House of Commons Subcommittee on International Human Rights of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development. China maintains the U.S. and Canadian sanctions are “based on rumors and disinformation.”
The United Kingdom and Thailand signed a memorandum of understanding that established a trade dialogue and committed to further market access negotiations, the U.K.'s Department for International Trade announced in a March 29 news release. The MOU created a Joint Economic and Trade Committee to address market access barriers in agriculture, food and drink, financial services, healthcare and tech as key U.K. issues and power-generating equipment and automobiles as the top Thai concerns. Both sides will work to alleviate mutual concerns over food and drink, fisheries and agricultural sector market access and financial markets access, the release said. “By 2030, 66% of the global middle class will be in Asia and today’s agreement sets out our commitment to deepen ties with some of the fastest-growing markets globally,” International Trade Secretary Liz Truss said.
The United Nations Security Council extended the mandate of the panel that advises and recommends sanctions actions against North Korea, it said March 26. The panel was renewed until April 30, 2022, and will provide a midterm report on North Korean sanctions to the Security Council Committee by Aug. 3 and a final report by Feb. 25, 2022, to the UNSC.
Three Sheppard Mullin lawyers, across two continents, say the outcome of the new aggressive stance against China's rising technological manufacturing sector is yet to be seen, but that they don't expect the Biden administration to back away from the most significant export control actions taken under President Donald Trump.
The Justice Department and Homeland Security Investigations can do more to track, analyze and disrupt illegal smuggling of guns into Mexico, the Government Accountability Office said in a March 24 report. The GAO said the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives often receives incomplete data on thousands of U.S.-origin guns recovered in Mexican states, and said “additional data and analysis” by HSI “could enhance U.S. efforts to understand firearms sources and smuggling routes.” As a result, both agencies are “unable to assess” their progress toward stopping illegal gun exports and haven’t “fully developed performance measures” for those efforts.
The Magnitsky Act is set to sunset in 2022, and the bipartisan authors of the original sanctions bill asked civil society representatives in the U.S. and Africa how the renewal should be shaped.
The Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned two more Myanmar entities, issued four new general licenses and published two new frequently asked questions to provide guidance on certain exempted transactions with Myanmar. The sanctions and guidance, issued March 25, came days after OFAC designated entities and officials associated with the country’s military-led coup last month (see 2103220036) and about three weeks after the Commerce Department increased export restrictions for shipments to Myanmar (see 2103040075).
U.S. measures to expand foreign investment screening are having an increasingly chilling impact on Chinese companies’ willingness to invest in the U.S., said Jingyuan Shi, a media and technology lawyer with Simmons & Simmons. As the Biden administration continues to implement its China strategy, including its administration of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., some Chinese technology companies “are adopting a wait-and-see attitude,” especially amid the U.S.-China “trade tension atmosphere,” Shi said during a March 24 webinar hosted by the law firm.
Two Canadian companies recently announced plans to acquire U.S. businesses and are awaiting approval from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., according to their Securities and Exchange Commission filings. The filings were previously reported by Squire Patton.