Financial Times Quotes Christian Davis on Impact of Stronger CFIUS
Contact:
The Financial Times has quoted Akin Gump international trade partner Christian Davis in the article “Leading China health tech start-up ensnared by CFIUS.”
The article reports that increased scrutiny by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) has forced a leading Chinese health company to divest from two of the U.S. companies it bought. China’s iCarbonX, the FT says, was forced to back out long after the deals had closed.
CFIUS gained new powers last year under a new law that allows it to block investments from China that might give access to U.S. tech companies’ business information and other key data. Since then, according to the article, the number of proposed Chinese acquisitions of U.S. companies that have been blocked or withdrawn has risen sharply.
While some U.S. sellers may not want to do business with Chinese companies, Davis said the lack of enthusiasm is not one-sided. “CFIUS has had a chilling effect,” he said, “but at the same time, Chinese policy also discourages flows to the U.S.”
