When a national ‘champion’ is at stake, lively political and media debate often follows, sometimes even where the sector involved is not particularly ‘sensitive’. This is unsurprising in markets facing slow economic growth and, more recently, there has been an interesting interplay between expanding sanctions regimes and policy in this area. But just how often is the national ‘champion’ card played such that cross-border M&A deals are blocked or hampered?

With cross-border M&A deals last year having been at their highest levels since the financial crisis, we look at some recent market trends and developments on ‘protectionism’, as well as some practical considerations. In particular, we focus on those relevant to investing in Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Russia, the UK and the U.S.