Introduction

Dr Ashley Lenihan is a leading expert on the relationship between foreign direct investment and national security and is the author of ‘Balancing Power without Weapons: State Intervention into Cross-Border M&A’. She is the Head of Policy and Engagement at the British Academy of Management (BAM), a visiting Fellow at the London School of Economic’s Centre for International Studies, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. In the podcast, we discuss:

1. Why countries block foreign investment/M&A deals
2. Types of measures used to block or mitigate deals
3. Evolution of US policy on foreign investment (CFIUS, FIRMA)
4. Examples of US vetoes
5. Will Biden change CFIUS approach?
6. How data is new front for regulating foreign investment
7. The unusually broad scope of new UK regulation
8. Advice to companies who engage in cross-border M&A
9. Books that influenced Ashley: Theory of International Politics (Waltz), National Power and the Structure of Foreign Trade (Hirschman), Power & Interdependence (Keohane and Nye) and Isolationism (Kupchan)