Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS)

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) — an interagency group consisting of the principal US national security and economic US government agencies — has broad jurisdiction to review foreign inbound investments in the US to determine whether they present a threat to US national security. CFIUS can recommend that the president of the United States block or impose conditions on a deal. Foreign investors and US target businesses need to understand and fully consider the impact CFIUS could have on their deals.  

Latham’s CFIUS & US National Security lawyers are well positioned to help clients navigate the complex — and sometimes controversial — CFIUS process, including by:

• Evaluating the level of CFIUS-related risk associated with a given transaction and/or counterparty
• Structuring prospective transactions and crafting deal terms to effectively manage CFIUS-related risk
• Implementing regulatory strategies to secure clearances from CFIUS and related US government agencies in a timely fashion
• Negotiating mitigation solutions and compliance commitments if and as necessary to facilitate receipt of regulatory clearances
• Leveraging deep substantive knowledge in related practice areas (e.g., security clearance matters, export control regimes, and government contracting) to facilitate successful CFIUS outcomes

Latham has a long track record of successfully navigating the CFIUS process through early engagement by practitioners with deep experience in all phases of the CFIUS process and related agency reviews. In particular, the team leverages the broad national security experience of its lawyers, including a number of former senior government officials, as well as Christopher Simkins, a security expert, former participant in the CFIUS process for DOJ, and consultant to Latham. Latham also routinely draws on its extensive knowledge of the industry sectors of particular interest to CFIUS (e.g., semiconductors, defense and aerospace, telecommunications, and energy). The firm has secured CFIUS clearance in some of the largest and most complex cross-border transactions in recent years.