Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching for the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
The recent intervention by the U.S. in a Chinese foreign investment deal further highlights the Biden administration's investment review priorities and the sometimes “complicated” and “time-consuming” nature of those reviews, Vinson & Elkins said in a Dec. 27 client alert.
The U.S. may look to expand the jurisdiction of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. after CFIUS determined it couldn’t intervene in China-based Fufeng Group's purchase of North Dakota farmland, law firms said this month. Congress could make a push to expand CFIUS next year, some firms suggested, especially after several lawmakers said the real estate transaction should have fallen under the committee's authority.
Lawmakers are again expressing concern about the U.S. national security review of TikTok (see 2211230033), saying they fear the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. will allow the app to continue operating in the U.S. without divesting itself from its Chinese owner Bytedance.
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., criticized the U.S. decision not to intervene in the purchase of North Dakota farm land by China-based Fufeng Group, saying the acquisition threatens U.S. national security. “The Chinese Communist Party should not be allowed to purchase land near our military bases. It is dangerous and dumb,” Rubio said in a Dec. 14 statement. “Congress mandated that [the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S.] protect America’s national security and that should be its first priority, not making it easier for Chinese businesses, with ties to Beijing, to operate in the United States.”
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. recently cleared a U.S.-Singapore acquisition in the real estate industry, Squire Patton said in a Dec. 12 alert. CFIUS cleared the $14 billion acquisition of U.S.-based STORE Capital by Singapore-based GIC Private Limited and U.S.-based Blue Owl Capital. STORE Capital is an “internally managed net-lease real estate investment trust,” and GIC and Blue Owl are investors.
Mike Walsh, former chief of staff and acting general counsel at the Commerce Department, has joined Shearman & Sterling as a partner in the Washington, D.C., office's litigation wing, the firm announced. His practice will center on the national security elements of cross-border transactions, including matters involving the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., export controls, Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctions and other cross-border investment proceedings. From 2018 to 2021, Walsh oversaw "legal initiatives" at Commerce, including CFIUS, export enforcement functions and appellate litigation. Most recently, Walsh was a partner at Foley & Lardner.
Export Compliance Daily is providing readers with the top stories from last week in case you missed them. You can find any article by searching for the title or by clicking on the hyperlinked reference number.
The Treasury Department is seeking public comments on an information collection involving the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S.’s expanded jurisdiction under the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act of 2018. FIRRMA expanded CFIUS jurisdiction to allow it to review certain non-controlling foreign investments, certain real estate transactions involving foreign parties and more. Comments on the collection are due by Dec. 27.
Zendesk, a U.S.-based software-as-a-service provider, said it received U.S. approval regarding its acquisition by an investor group led by investment firms Permira in the U.K. and Hellman & Friedman, headquartered in California. The company had submitted a voluntary notice to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. and received “written notice” from CFIUS Nov. 17 that it “had concluded its review and cleared the transaction,” Zendesk said in a Nov. 17 SEC filing. The company expects the acquisition to be completed Nov. 22.