Britain’s government is trying to protect national security

. A report in 2017 warned that “ownership or control of critical businesses or infrastructure could provide opportunities to undertake espionage, sabotage or exert inappropriate leverage”. The context is concern about Chinese investment, and pressure to fall into line with allied countries such as America, Australia and Germany that have already tightened up.

This new regime is very broad. It is backdated, covering deals that went through since November 2020. “National security” is undefined, and the government can intervene in deals outside the 17 named sectors, if it so chooses. Other countries generally limit such screening to fewer sectors, to acquisitions of domestic entities and to foreign investors. The broad scope of Britain’s rules reflects how hard it is to protect against evolving, ill-defined threats.

Yet another worry is that uncertainty over the new system will clog it up. The government has tried to be clear in its definition of the 17 sectors where notifications are mandatory, but there will inevitably be borderline cases. Investors who fail to notify deals that should have been notified risk fines and prison time. They might therefore decide to err on the side of caution, slowing everything down.

So, anyone but the Chinese, right?! 😁

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