A reader points me to the following article on fears of foreign investment in Canada:
In an unprecedented move, the federal government has blocked the $1.3-billion sale of the space technology division of Vancouver-based MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates to a U.S. firm.
In a letter this week to Alliant Techsystems Inc. (ATK), Industry Minister Jim Prentice said he is "not satisfied" the sale will be a net benefit for Canada.
Alliant has been given 30 days to state its case to win approval for the sale.
After question period Thursday, Prentice told reporters he was "very confident" of his decision.
"It's a very significant step under the Investment Canada regime of saying we don't see net benefits to Canada in this transaction."
By coincidence, I came across a couple articles on what's going in other countries.
In the U.S., Dave Zaring over at the Conglomerate takes a look at CFIUS:
I wanted to have a look at these matters to see if there were any opinions that could establish in more detail what criteria CFIUS used when evaluating foreign acquisitions. Unfortunately it is not to be. A Treasury Department employee told me that CFIUS does not publish anything, and interprets itself not to be subject to FOIA.
And in the Economist, there is some discussion of Japan and the EU in relation to the energy industry:
“J-POWER is different,” says Akira Amari, Japan's trade minister, justifying his unease over a request by The Children's Investment Fund (TCI), a British activist shareholder group, to double its stake in Japan's formerly state-owned electricity wholesaler. Although Japan is open to foreign investment, says Mr Amari, the company deserves special treatment because of its strategic importance: its transmission lines link Japan's four main islands and it is building a nuclear reactor.
Japan is particularly sensitive about investments in energy, because the country is devoid of oil, gas, uranium and other fuels, and so must import almost all its needs. Officials fear that foreign investors might put profits before the long-term planning and investment this natural deficit demands. TCI, after all, has called on J-Power to pay a higher dividend and take on more debt.
Japan is not alone in this view. The European Commission is struggling to persuade the governments of European Union countries that they should allow foreigners to buy their national energy champions (although the British government seems to have no objection to selling its 35% stake in British Energy, a nuclear-power firm, to the various foreign suitors that have been lining up in recent days).
