The government has published its response to the consultation on the sectors where mandatory notification will be required under the proposed new national security screening regime contained in the National Security and Investment Bill. The Bill was published in November 2020 (see our blog post here) and is currently making its way through the House … Read more

The Pension Schemes Act 2021 introduces significant reforms of the regulatory regime for defined benefit (DB) pension schemes. The Act introduces new criminal offences and civil sanctions which could be applied to company directors, lenders, investors, sellers, purchasers and advisers who take action which, broadly speaking, is materially detrimental to a DB scheme and where … Read more

We have published our half-yearly update briefing which summarises the major developments in UK corporate law and regulation that have occurred over the last six months, that is from July to December 2020, and which are of relevance to UK listed companies. The briefing is available here. Read more

We have published our new M&A report, which we have titled “M&A in 2021 – Resilient, agile and coming off mute”, here. In it we look at the prospects for M&A in 2021 – whilst the significant regional and global questions from last year may not have gone away, there are reasons for optimism. Issues … Read more

The UK ceased to be a Member State of the European Union on 31 January 2020. A transition period then applied until 31 December 2020. During the transition period, EU law continued to apply in and to the UK, and the UK continued to trade as part of the Single Market. The Brexit transition period ended … Read more

In our latest public M&A podcast, we discuss the consultation paper published by the Takeover Panel (PCP 2020/1), in which it is proposing to amend various provisions in the Takeover Code relating to the conditions to an offer and to the offer timetable. The key changes include: removing the special treatment afforded to conditions relating … Read more

On 11 November 2020 the UK Government introduced the National Security and Investment Bill (NSI Bill) to Parliament, setting out significant legislative reforms which will overhaul the review of transactions and investments on national security grounds in the UK, against a backdrop of tightening of foreign direct investment (FDI) regimes globally. Read more