The Global Legal Post today launches a comparative guide to foreign direct investment (FDI) law, examining the increasingly complex regulatory regimes governing cross-border transactions in key jurisdictions.
The Foreign Direct Investment guide is edited by Caroline Hobson, head of Cooley's UK competition practice, and brings together contributions from law firms around the world to help lawyers and businesses navigate investment screening requirements as governments tighten scrutiny of foreign investment.
In her introduction, Hobson charts the transformation of FDI regulation over the past decade, driven by geopolitical tensions, concerns about national and economic security and growing competition over strategically important technologies, including artificial intelligence, semiconductors and biotechnology.
Watch Caroline Hobson introduce the guide
“The landscape has therefore changed dramatically in recent years and today it is one that is almost unrecognisable from the one that prevailed even a decade ago,” Hobson writes. “Understanding FDI controls is no longer a specialist concern for a handful of practitioners advising on defence-adjacent deals. It is a core competency for any lawyer, compliance professional, investor, or corporate finance adviser involved in cross-border transactions.”
The guide provides a jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction overview of foreign investment rules, covering the scope of screening regimes, notification requirements, review procedures, clearance timescales and penalties for non-compliance.
It also features six Market Insights chapters examining developments including reforms to the EU's investment screening framework and the impact of growing notification volumes on deal timetables under the UK's National Security and Investment Act.
The guide can be read online, where users can browse individual chapters and compare requirements across jurisdictions, or downloaded as a PDF. A hardcover edition is also available to purchase here.
The Foreign Direct Investment guide forms part of The Global Legal Post's growing series of titles, which feature invitation-only roundtables bringing together contributing authors, general counsel, academics and policymakers to discuss legal developments and share insights.
For further information about the guides, email Katie Burrington at [email protected].
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