Foreign Direct Investment Regulation

Covington’s dedicated Foreign Direct Investment Regulation team in Brussels, Frankfurt, and London advises clients on foreign investment issues across Europe, including evolving FDI screening regimes. Our team has significant transactional, antitrust, policy, and trade expertise, and draws on the experience of colleagues who had national security responsibility in their former senior government positions in Europe. We collaborate closely with Covington's preeminent U.S. practice involving the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to identify, and help clients navigate, global investment regulatory barriers at an early stage and provide long-term strategic advice to repeat investors. The FDI team also regularly advises on the EU Foreign Subsidies Regulation, in close collaboration with Covington's State aid and Foreign Subsidies practice.

We represent our clients before the European Commission and the competent authorities in Belgium, Germany, and the United Kingdom. We have established a European-wide FDI-network of partner firms in other countries to assist quickly and efficiently with the respective national issues. Beyond Europe and the United States, our FDI-network includes our offices in China and South Korea and additional partner firms in countries such as Australia, Canada, India, Japan, and many more.

We advise clients in connection with M&A and other transactions, including in industries such as life sciences, IT, defense, and financial infrastructure, with particular experience in technology-related investments. Our team has significant perspective on the broader EU and UK investment policy landscape, and strong relationships with government officials in EU Member States, the EU Commission, and the German and UK governments.