The UK government introduced into Parliament a wholesale change to its State aid rules under the new Subsidy Control Bill on 30 June 2021 (the “Bill”). The regime, which is set to come into effect in H1 2022, subject to...more
While the U.K. has a mature approach to protecting national security overall, the government lacks effective statutory powers in relation to the ownership and control of businesses and other entities that could be used to...more
Key Points -
On April 27, 2021, the German government adopted the 17th Regulation for the Amendment of the German Foreign Trade Regulation (Außenwirtschaftsverordnung (AWV)). The regulation, which came into force on May...more
This alert outlines the recent potentially seismic shifts in the Fintech regulatory landscape affecting the regulation and commercial business model of China’s online micro-lending company ("MLC") sector – a part of the...more
12/9/2020
/ Anti-Monopoly ,
Antitrust Provisions ,
Banking Regulators ,
China ,
Consumer Lenders ,
Financial Services Industry ,
FinTech ,
Monopolization ,
People's Bank of China ,
Popular ,
State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR)
In anticipation of the United Kingdom’s exit from the EU on December 31 (‘Brexit’), the Competition and Markets Authority (the ‘CMA’) published its guidance on the expected changes to U.K. competition law regime. The guidance...more
1. Summary
The United Kingdom (U.K.) government published the National Security and Investment Bill (“NSI Bill” or “Bill”) on November 11, 2020, the aim of which is to strengthen the government’s powers to scrutinize and...more
Returns from Asia-Pacific merger arbitrage positions have proved consistently attractive over time, offering the additional benefit of portfolio diversification when compared to other equity strategies where returns are more...more
11/3/2020
/ Acquisitions ,
Appraisal ,
Arbitrage ,
Asia Pacific ,
Foreign Investment ,
Mergers ,
Private Equity ,
Private Equity Firms ,
Publicly-Traded Companies ,
Scheme of Arrangement ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Statutory Mergers
- EC extends the Temporary State Aid Framework to allow member states to provide recapitalizations to companies adversely affected by the COVID-19 crisis, including airlines, retailers and firms active in hospitality, leisure...more
- On April 16, 2020, the Chinese competition authority finally announced its conditional approval of Nvidia’s $6.9 billion acquisition of Mellanox.
- The Chinese SAMR approved the acquisition after a yearlong investigation...more
Investment facilitation is among the new generation issues being discussed at the World Trade Organization (WTO), alongside issues such as electronic commerce and digital trade. The concept of “investment facilitation” refers...more
- On April 17, 2020, the CMA provisionally cleared Amazon’s investment in Deliveroo in light of the deterioration in Deliveroo’s financial position caused by COVID-19.
- The CMA has provisionally concluded that...more
- Extension of the existing State aid scheme would enable support for research, testing and production of products to tackle COVID-19.
- It would also allow tax payment deferrals and wage subsidies to help avoid...more
4/3/2020
/ Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Financial Stimulus ,
Germany ,
Liquidity ,
Member State ,
State Aid ,
Subsidies ,
Tax Deferral ,
UK
The European Commission (EC) on March 25, 2020 issued new guidance on foreign investment screening in response to the COVID-19 emergency (the “Guidance”). The Guidance, which addresses the now 27 EU Member States and relates...more
- As of March 17, 2020, the FTC and DOJ will accept only electronic submissions of HSR notifications (no filings accepted March 16, 2020).
- Early termination of the HSR waiting period will not be granted for any HSR filing...more
On February 19, 2020, the European Commission (Commission) published proposals for the regulation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) with potentially far-reaching implications both for users and developers worldwide. The...more
3/11/2020
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Corporate Counsel ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Legislative Agendas ,
New Legislation ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Research and Development ,
Technology Sector ,
White Papers
In this episode, Akin Gump international competition and trade partner Davina Garrod and corporate partner Gavin Weir discuss M&A in the U.K., EU, U.S., China and more, its state of health and where it might go in 2020....more
2/28/2020
/ Acquisitions ,
Antitrust Investigations ,
CFIUS ,
China ,
Coronavirus/COVID-19 ,
Cross-Border Transactions ,
EU ,
Foreign Investment ,
Life Sciences ,
Mergers ,
Trade Relations ,
Trump Administration ,
UK ,
UK Brexit ,
US Trade Policies
On 9 July 2019, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in Luxembourg heard a case brought by privacy-rights activist Max Schrems (C-311/18, Data Protection Commissioner v Facebook Ireland Limited, Maximilliam...more
A year ago, on May 25, 2018, the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force. With its extraterritorial scope and detailed requirements, the GDPR aimed to change the approach to personal data...more
5/31/2019
/ Consent ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Data Privacy ,
Data Processors ,
Data Protection ,
Data Protection Authority ,
Data Security ,
Data Subjects Rights ,
Enforcement Actions ,
EU ,
EU Data Protection Laws ,
General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ,
Personal Data ,
Popular ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Telemarketing
• The new EU FDI Regulation provides a framework for screening foreign direct investments and will enter into force in mid-April. While China, Russia and other currently high-profile “foreign” countries are not expressly...more
Monday, December 10 – Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruling on whether the United Kingdom can unilaterally revoke Article 50 (08:00 GMT); House of Commons debate on Brexit deal continues from around 15:30/16:30...more
• On December 4, 2018, CJEU AG Campos Sánchez-Bordona opined that the U.K. could unilaterally revoke its Article 50 withdrawal notification, provided that the revocation has been decided upon in accordance with the Member...more
In our July 2017 update in AG Speaking Energy, we highlighted that the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) concluded in its market study that destination clauses, diversion clauses, profit-sharing clauses and take-or-pay...more
8/2/2018
/ Anti-Monopoly ,
Buyers ,
Destination Restriction Clauses ,
Energy Market ,
Energy Sector ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
European Economic Area (EEA) ,
Export Controls ,
Imports ,
Investigations ,
Japan ,
Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) ,
Liquid Natural Gas ,
Oil & Gas ,
Profit Sharing ,
Qatar ,
Resales Agreements ,
Sellers ,
Supply Agreements ,
Take-or-Pay Contracts
• The U.K. Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy published its National Security and Investment White Paper, which proposes a voluntary notification regime and a powerful “call-in” mechanism. The proposal...more
7/26/2018
/ CFIUS ,
Foreign Direct Investment ,
Merger Controls ,
National Security ,
Notification Requirements ,
Sanctions ,
Screening Procedures ,
Security Risk Assessments ,
Triggering Event ,
UK ,
UK Brexit
• JFTC‘s recent market study on clauses in LNG SPAs indicate that agreements may run afoul of Japanese antimonopoly laws.
• EU cases may provide guidance on application of competition law to destination clauses, diversion...more
7/3/2018
/ Anti-Monopoly ,
Buyers ,
Contract Terms ,
Destination Restriction Clauses ,
Energy Market ,
Energy Sector ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
European Economic Area (EEA) ,
Export Controls ,
Imports ,
Investigations ,
Japan ,
Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) ,
Liquid Natural Gas ,
Oil & Gas ,
Profit Sharing ,
Qatar ,
Sellers ,
Supply Agreements ,
Take-or-Pay Contracts
At 11:00 p.m. U.K. time on 29 March 2019 the United Kingdom is expected to leave the European Union (“BREXIT Day”). The below timeline sets out milestones in the lead up to BREXIT Day, and thereafter. Please note that there...more