The Hedge Fund Journal Publishes Akin Gump Examination of EU’s Lockdown on Strategic Assets
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The Hedge Fund Journal has published the article “EU Locks Down Strategic Assets to Prevent Undervalued Foreign Takeovers During the Pandemic,” written by Akin Gump partner Davina Garrod and associate Sebastian Casselbrant-Multala. Originating as an Akin Gump client alert, the article looks at guidance issued last month by the European Commission regarding foreign investment screening in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
The authors write that the guidance, which relates in particular “to health care-related industries, sets out a threefold action plan to tackle COVID-19-related foreign investment risk.” They note that the plan allows European Union member states “to address specific risks to security or public order, including a sell-off of key European businesses and threats linked to a public health emergency.”
The article also addresses whether the current crisis and Europe’s response to it might herald “a further tightening of foreign access to European businesses.” Garrod and Casselbrant-Multala conclude by advising that the EU, in the future, “must carefully balance its protectionist instincts against its desire to remain an open economy and a proponent of frictionless trade.”
To read the original client alert, please click here.
