COVID-19 and CFIUS: Coronavirus Pandemic Slows National Security Reviews

While mergers and acquisitions were declining as the novel coronavirus spread across the globe, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States at the U.S. Treasury Department, which reviews transactions for national security concerns, is also being affected by the new working conditions, attorneys said.

April 07, 2020 at 02:17 PM

5 minute read

MP McQueen
Editor-at-large

The original version of this story was published on Corporate Counsel

The COVID-19 pandemic is slowing down national security reviews of foreign investment deals in the United States, lawyers say.

While mergers and acquisitions in general were declining as the novel coronavirus spread across the globe, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States at the U.S. Treasury Department, which reviews transactions for national security concerns, is also being affected by the new working conditions, lawyers added.

"It is not that CFIUS is closed, but there is an impact on CFIUS too, and you have to factor that into your planning," said David Fagan, co-chair of the firm's cross-border investment and national security practice at Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C.