Investment activities in Great Britain & procedure for foreign investment verification have their own specifics and, therefore, require in-depth understanding of relevant legislation. If you're planning on starting a business in Great Britain & looking for useful information on this subject, you’re highly recommended to familiarize yourself with what follows below.
CMA Compliance
Pursuant to CMA recommendations, all M&A deals involving British companies should be reported to the CMA. It should be kept in mind, though, that under current legislation, submitting such notifications is purely voluntary & entails no criminal or any other responsibility for its non-fulfilment.
Important
CMA-initiated investigations are conducted in two stages - a preliminary stage & a comprehensive stage. The latter is required if transaction-related problems are detected during the first stage.
The time required for reviewing M&A transactions in Great britain can be reduced or lengthened by:
- Secretary of State’s participation;
- a transaction’s complexity;
- volume of information;
- number of stakeholders;
- remedies/measures.
Conducting an M&A transaction in Great Britain requires parties to interact with the CMA & other relevant government agencies (and even prior to submitting a notification)
Preliminary discussions are encouraged but they’re optional. There’s strict confidentiality requirements with respect to any advance notifications. Advance consultations can assist in identifying any potential competition issues & help simplify the notification process for all parties involved in a transaction.
Important
Those seeking to conclude an M&A deal in Great Britain can resort to the help of external experts for conducting reviews & submitting reports to regulatory authorities.
Conclusion
As mentioned above, complying with foreign investment requirements in England is a rather time & effort-consuming process. Even if you have dealt with it before & are aware of how to perform DD of a target company in Great Britain, it doesn’t necessarily guarantee a successful conclusion of an M&A deal in Great Britain. However, you can make your job a lot easier by contacting IQ Decision UK & letting its professional team of legal advisors consult you on all legal formalities involved in this process. They’ll be happy to lend you a helping hand with any legal issues you’re facing & ensure the result you’re looking forward to achieving.
