The latest annual report released Friday by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, the interagency panel at the Treasury Department that reviews transactions for potential national security risks, shows that the number of notices filed increased significantly from 2014 through 2017, and the number of investigations rose 237%.

The annual report for 2016 and 2017, the last years for which statistics were published, shows the number of CFIUS notices filed at the panel rose 61% from 147 in 2014 to 237 in 2017. The number of investigations rose from 51 to 172.

Notices filed dipped slightly only in 2015 from the year before to 143, but it was followed by a big jump to 172 in 2016, during the Obama administration and has risen steadily since.

CFIUS Annual Report

Notices withdrawn during the investigations phase—which often occurs when the committee has notified parties that it wants more information or likely won't approve a transaction—rose from nine to 67. Presidents rejected three deals on CFIUS recommendations—once in 2012 and again in 2016 and 2017. 

The share of transactions reviewed that were in financial services companies rose from 26% to 46% from 2014 to 2017, whereas mining and manufacturing both saw their share of  reviewed transactions decline.

Hogan Lovells partner Anne Salladin, who worked for nearly two decades in the Office of the Assistant General Counsel for International Affairs in the Treasury Department, providing with CFIUS legal advice, said: "This report shows what many of us following CFIUS activity for years have long known—oversight of foreign investments into U.S. companies is on the rise. It's just another sign that U.S. companies considering any level of foreign investment must have CFIUS on their radar."

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