Partner David Plotinsky spoke with Law360 about the White House’s order of a fresh national security review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) of the deal between Nippon and US Steel. The article noted that earlier this year, David accurately predicted the parties could end up getting the new CFIUS review they had pushed for.
David told the publication that the re-review order was “certainly a positive sign” and that it reflects the president’s broad discretion to revisit the national security decisions of a predecessor.
He added that any structural changes to the deal will not likely require “an updated merger agreement, such that there would be brand-new CFIUS jurisdiction.”
“It would make sense that CFIUS is looking at the same deal they looked at before,” David said. “If you needed a new merger agreement because you were restructuring the deal, I don’t think you could do that in this re-review.”