In the broader context of governments all over the world scrutinizing foreign direct investments (“FDI”), the Act is meant to legislatively reform the UK national framework of transaction review, give the UK Government more power to investigate, and strengthen its control over FDIs that may implicate national security issues.
The new UK stand-alone regime is considered one of the most far-reaching systems in the world, carrying civil and criminal penalties for a failure to notify. The Act provides a wide jurisdictional ambit as it applies to both UK and overseas acquirers, provides no turnover or market share safe harbors,[1] and captures a wide array of transactions. The Government’s Impact Assessment estimates that the Act will lead to a range of 1,000 to 1,830 notifications per year.
