The UK plans sweeping powers to intervene in foreign takeovers of British assets if deemed a threat to national security.
A draft law, published yesterday, would expand the range of transactions open to government intervention, the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said.
There would be scope for fines and retroactive interventions in deals that complete after the bill’s publication — a potentially controversial provision that critics said could deter investors.
The proposed legislation covers sectors including defense, energy and transport, as the government seeks to stop British companies, infrastructure and intellectual property falling into “hostile” ownership.
At the same time, the department said the new scrutiny process would be “slicker” than at present, by imposing set timeframes within which ministers must come to a decision.
“The UK remains one of the most attractive investment destinations in the world and we want to keep it that way,” British Secretary of State for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy Alok Sharma said in a statement. “But hostile actors should be in no doubt — there is no backdoor into the UK.”
Under the National Security and Investment Bill, foreign buyers from all countries purchasing British assets in 17 sectors would be obliged to notify the government of the transaction.
Only some deals in those sectors would be covered, and a separate consultation would determine the full scope of the law.
Ministers would then have 30 days to either allow a transaction to proceed or call it in for further scrutiny on national security grounds.
If that path is chosen, the business secretary would have a further 30 days to make a decision, extendable by another 45 days in the most complex cases.
Punishments for non-compliance with the new regime includes five years imprisonment and fines of as much as 5 percent of global turnover or ￡10 million (US$13.3 million) — whichever is greater.
Transactions subject to mandatory notification that take place without being cleared would be legally void, the department said.
Conditions imposed on sensitive deals could include limits on the size of shareholdings by foreign investors, restrictions on access to commercial information and limits on access to certain projects, it said.
The department has in the past also imposed conditions on pensions and investment.
Once a deal is cleared, ministers would not be able to revisit it — unless inaccurate information was provided.
However, as reported last month by Bloomberg, there are some retroactive elements to the legislation.
Ministers would have five years to scrutinize transactions in the wider economy beyond the 17 sectors.
They would have powers to unpick them if they are judged a threat to national security — a provision the government said is in line with French, Italian and German practice.
The retroactivity would apply from yesterday, so the government would not be able to intervene in already completed deals.
The department estimates that more than 1,000 deals a year might be subject to the new notification requirement, with 70 to 95 called in for further scrutiny and about 10 requiring some sort of remedy.
Until now, interventions have been governed by the 2002 Enterprise Act, which allows government action when a proposed merger would affect media plurality, national security or public contracts.
The department made changes in 2018, which removed thresholds on market share and turnover for some companies, but the new draft legislation would apply across all sectors.
Taiwan’s long-term economic competitiveness will hinge not only on national champions like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) but also on the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies, a US-based scholar has said. At a lecture in Taipei on Tuesday, Jeffrey Ding, assistant professor of political science at the George Washington University and author of "Technology and the Rise of Great Powers," argued that historical experience shows that general-purpose technologies (GPTs) — such as electricity, computers and now AI — shape long-term economic advantages through their diffusion across the broader economy. "What really matters is not who pioneers
In a high-security Shenzhen laboratory, Chinese scientists have built what Washington has spent years trying to prevent: a prototype of a machine capable of producing the cutting-edge semiconductor chips that power artificial intelligence (AI), smartphones and weapons central to Western military dominance, Reuters has learned. Completed early this year and undergoing testing, the prototype fills nearly an entire factory floor. It was built by a team of former engineers from Dutch semiconductor giant ASML who reverse-engineered the company’s extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) machines, according to two people with knowledge of the project. EUV machines sit at the heart of a technological Cold
TAIWAN VALUE CHAIN: Foxtron is to fully own Luxgen following the transaction and it plans to launch a new electric model, the Foxtron Bria, in Taiwan next year Yulon Motor Co (裕隆汽車) yesterday said that its board of directors approved the disposal of its electric vehicle (EV) unit, Luxgen Motor Co (納智捷汽車), to Foxtron Vehicle Technologies Co (鴻華先進) for NT$787.6 million (US$24.98 million). Foxtron, a half-half joint venture between Yulon affiliate Hua-Chuang Automobile Information Technical Center Co (華創車電) and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), expects to wrap up the deal in the first quarter of next year. Foxtron would fully own Luxgen following the transaction, including five car distributing companies, outlets and all employees. The deal is subject to the approval of the Fair Trade Commission, Foxtron said. “Foxtron will be
INFLATION CONSIDERATION: The BOJ governor said that it would ‘keep making appropriate decisions’ and would adjust depending on the economy and prices The Bank of Japan (BOJ) yesterday raised its benchmark interest rate to the highest in 30 years and said more increases are in the pipeline if conditions allow, in a sign of growing conviction that it can attain the stable inflation target it has pursued for more than a decade. Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda’s policy board increased the rate by 0.2 percentage points to 0.75 percent, in a unanimous decision, the bank said in a statement. The central bank cited the rising likelihood of its economic outlook being realized. The rate change was expected by all 50 economists surveyed by Bloomberg. The
RSS