The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) recently issued its 2012 Annual Report to Congress. My colleague CJ Voss has summarized some of the report’s key findings.
CFIUS is charged with reviewing acquisitions of U.S. businesses for national security implications. As we reported last fall, President Obama blocked Chinese-owned Ralls Corporation’s acquisition of wind farm projects in Oregon following intervention by CFIUS in the deal.
According to CJ, the report provides important insights for foreign companies considering investment and M&A transactions that could raise national security considerations, including:
- CFIUS believes foreign governments or companies likely have a “coordinated strategy” to acquire U.S. companies involved in research, development and production of critical technologies
- Filings with CFIUS have increased 70% since 2009
- Filings involving Chinese buyers have increased
- CFIUS has imposed various mitigation measures on transactions
- Certain industry sub-sectors accounted for more than half of all filings between 2009-2011
Read on for CJ’s detailed summary of the report and its implications.