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UK Ramps Up Powers To Block Foreign Takeover Deals

Government intervention in foreign takeovers of UK firms will massively increase under proposed new powers.

The government expects to review 50 foreign takeovers a year over national security. In the last two years it has reviewed just one takeover a year.

Previously the government could only review deals where the target company had annual revenues of over £70m.

The proposed new legislation would abolish that threshold – entirely and permanently.

It marks a new era in government oversight of corporate activity deemed likely to the threaten national interests.

The government expects that the new thresholds will result in 200 notifications of potential national security concerns being raised when either whole companies or sensitive assets are being acquired.

Of that 200, ministers and civil servants expect half – or 100 – will need more careful analysis, and of that 100, it expects to “call in” fifty for detailed scrutiny.

That would be a fifty-fold increase on current levels.

Read Full Article – www.bbc.co.uk