Doors Slam Shut for China Deals Around the World

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Berita Luar Negeri
Doors Slam Shut for China Deals Around the World

kudo212

21-08-2018 07:10

Doors Slam Shut for China Deals Around the World

Doors are slamming shut in the developed world not just to Chinese investment in technology but potentially to a wave of acquisitions with a tech element, as diverse as smart heaters and robotic lawnmowers.

President Donald Trump last week signed an update to legislation for the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. that broadened the inter-agency vetting committee group’s scope to encompass even minority and passive investments in three areas: critical technology, infrastructure, and businesses that handle personal data. This tightening of the rules has been happening for some time, but it’s now explicit.

Pulling Back
Chinese acquisitions overseas have come off 2016 record highs

Just ask Jack Ma, who earlier this year had to abandon Ant Financial’s bid for MoneyGram International Inc. amid CFIUS concerns that “malicious actors” could obtain data on U.S. military personnel who use the payments service. Or Broadcom Ltd., whose $117 billion bid for Qualcomm Inc. was rejected by Trump after the committee worried that the deal, and the inevitable post-merger cost-cutting, would give China’s Huawei Technologies Co. [url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2018-03-22/why-america-is-so-scared-of-china-s-biggest-techS E N S O Rpany][font=PublicoText-Roman-Web, Georgia, Cambria, "Times New Roman", Times, serif]a tech leg-up[/font][/url].

But there’s more to this CFIUS update.

In the past, “notifications to CFIUS were voluntary, at least until CFIUS came knocking,” said Rod Hunter, a Washington-based trade partner at Baker & McKenzie LLP. Now, an acquirer planning to invest in anything remotely “smart” in the U.S. stands to be investigated.
Ambiguity abounds: What kinds of “personal data” are vulnerable in a world where pretty much every company must seek to monetize such information to get ahead? If all information is critical infrastructure, can any Chinese incursion come in under the radar? Would Haier Group Corp.’s purchase of General Electric Co.’s home-appliance business a couple of years ago — partly to leverage the American company’s smart-home technology — get the green light now?
China’s challenges aren’t limited to a more protectionist U.S., or to similar stances in Australia and Canada. Europe, the favored destination of late, is getting a lot tougher.

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