The UK's National Security and Investment Act 2021: the impact on UK transactions

In this episode, host Sophie Brookes and corporate partner Paul Cliff discuss the Government's new powers to intervene in transactions on the grounds of national security. They consider the impact the new regime is likely to have on UK transactions and explain how, although the new powers are not yet in force, current transactions are affected and could face being called in for review. In this episode: We provide an overview of the new Government's powers to intervene in transactions on the grounds of national security; We outline how the regime is going to operate; We define the first of the three elements to the regime; the mandatory notification regime and outline when this is going to apply; We look at how the mandatory notification regime is going to affect transactions in practice; We outline the sanctions companies face if they complete a transaction in a sensitive sector without getting clearance first; We define the second of the three elements to the regime; the voluntary notification regime and outline when a buyer should make a voluntary notification; We define the third element of the regime, the call-in powers, and outline how this will work; We look at what the practical implications are going to be for UK transactions once the regime is in force.