Jones Day Talks: Doing Deals Down Under: Australia's Foreign Direct Investment Regime
The Background: The Australian Treasury has released its second quarterly report of the 2023–24 financial year covering the regulation of foreign investment in Australia during the quarter ended 31 December 2023....more
The Australian government has set out an ambitious plan to attract overseas investors with a proven track record whilst at the same time toughening up safeguards for investment seen as higher-risk. Treasury Minister Jim...more
The Australian Treasury has released its first quarterly report ("Report") for the 2023-24 financial year covering the regulation of foreign investment in Australia....more
The new Register of Foreign Ownership of Australian Assets (the Register) is imminent, with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) having announced that it will be introduced on 1 July 2023. The Register was established in...more
The Situation: The Australian Government has doubled Foreign Investment Review Board ("FIRB") application fees payable by investors who are required to seek approval under the Foreign Investments and Takeovers Act 1975 (Cth)...more
The second round of amendments to the Security of Critical Infrastructure Act 2018 (Cth) (SoCI Act) has now come into effect, with the Security Legislation Amendment (Critical Infrastructure Protection) Bill 2022 (Bill)...more
What you need to know Under Australia’s foreign investment regime, certain types of investments by foreign private investors or foreign government investors need to be notified to, and reviewed and a statement of no objection...more
This guide is intended to supplement our popular Foreign Investment in Australia guide and has been drafted with the intention of providing an overview of the specific considerations a foreign person who is seeking to make an...more
Australia requires a wide variety of investments by foreign businesses to be reviewed and approved - Some significant investment proposals have been rejected on national interest grounds since 2020 - The decision to...more
The Situation: The Australian government has introduced significant changes to its foreign investment review framework. The centrepiece of the changes is an enhanced review of acquisitions of property or businesses which are...more
The Australian government has introduced the most significant reforms to Australia’s foreign investment laws (the FIRB regime) in nearly 50 years. This client alert provides a high level summary of the key changes to the FIRB...more
Australia requires a wide variety of investments by foreign businesses to be reviewed and approved before completion - The decision to approve or deny a foreign investment application is ultimately made by the Treasurer...more
In late March, the Treasurer of Australia announced temporary changes to Australia's foreign investment review framework in response to the COVID-19 crisis. The new measures lowered the monetary screening thresholds for...more
The Situation: The Australian Taxation Office ("ATO") has broadened its role in the process for reviewing foreign investment proposals, through closer engagement with foreign investors pursuing acquisitions, mergers and...more
Like many countries, Australia is taking a careful look at proposed investments by foreign entities, particularly when certain sensitive industries or a government agency are involved. Jones Day's Mark Crean, Ingrid...more
In early 2016, the Australian Government announced the introduction of new standard tax conditions and appeared to indicate that the conditions would be applied universally to all foreign investment approvals. Later that...more