UK, Spain and Sweden: Comparing and Contrasting Screening Frameworks and the Latest Developments

June 4, 2025 11:30am

Pedro Callol
Partner
Callol, Coca & Asociados (Spain)

Christine Graham
Special Counsel
Cooley (UK)

Malin Persson
Partner
Kastell (Sweden)

This three-part session will compare and contrast how FDI regulations are applied to these emerging/evolving regimes, what has changed over the last year and what’s around the corner in navigating regime nuances.

UK

  • Mandatory notifications around acquisitions
  • New standalone sector definitions for semiconductors and critical minerals and bringing transactions involving water companies within the scope of the mandatory notification requirement
  • Potential technical exemptions to the mandatory notification requirement based on the experience gained from the operation of the first three years of the NSI Regime
  • Longer review periods, but clearance rates higher

Spain

  • Filing protocols: Details of the investor and the target; the shareholding structure of the investor; the method by which the investment is being made; the amount of the investment; and the effective participation of the investor in the target after the transaction
  • Authorization required for investments where the target operates in areas such as critical infrastructures
  • Scope of reviews: How transactions are being carried out, whether it will result in a change of the target’s activity and what the amount of the investment will be

Sweden

  • Defining “activities worth protecting” under the Swedish Foreign Direct Investment Act
  • Investment notification requirements
  • Conducting a voluntary “consultation” process to avoid screening measures