On August 13, 2018, President Trump signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act (Public Law 115-232), which included the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act of 2018 (“FIRRMA”). FIRRMA marks the most significant change in over ten years in the law governing the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS”). CFIUS is a multi-agency US governmental committee that is authorized to review mergers, acquisitions, or takeovers of US businesses involving non-US persons in order to determine the effect of such transactions on US national security.

Norton Rose Fulbright has prepared an analysis discussing the significance of FIRRMA which, in essence, codifies certain existing CFIUS practice with respect to transactions covered under the law, expands CFIUS’s jurisdiction to address perceived evolving national security threats due to the use of investment structures that previously have been outside of CFIUS jurisdiction, and seeks to modernize CFIUS’s processes to promote more timely and effective reviews of covered transactions.

The Legal Update was written by:

Kimberly Hope Caine, Senior Counsel in the Norton Rose Fulbright office in Washington, DC

Larry G. Franceski, Of Counsel in the Norton Rose Fulbright office in Washington, DC

Amanda L. Rosenberg, Senior Associate in the Norton Rose Fulbright office in Los Angeles, CA

Alison Plenge, Counsel in the Norton Rose Fulbright office in Washington, DC