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Drew Svor

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Drew Svor is a partner in the firm’s Washington, D.C. office and serves as a member of the firm’s Telecom, Space & Satellite, CFIUS and AI Teams, as well as the D.C. office’s recruiting co-chair.

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Key Takeaways: The Treasury Department is seeking to equip CFIUS with greater enforcement and oversight authority. These new powers include the ability to request more information from transaction parties and also to assess more significant penalties—in some cases, potentially greater than the transaction value—against companies who fail to comply with mandatory filing requirements or violate mitigation agreements.Continue Reading Treasury Department Proposes to Sharpen the Teeth of CFIUS Enforcement

On September 30, 2016, the FCC adopted an order designed to liberalize and streamline the foreign ownership review process for broadcast licensees (the “Broadcast Liberalization Order”).  Section 310(b) of the Communications Act caps at 25 percent the amount of indirect foreign investment permissible in a U.S. broadcast, common carrier, or aeronautical fixed or en route radio licensee without obtaining FCC approval.  Prior to 2013, the long-standing presumption among FCC practitioners was that the FCC simply would not allow indirect foreign ownership of a U.S. broadcast licensee in excess of the 25% benchmark in the Communications Act, even though the Act expressly contemplated such investments so long as they were blessed by the FCC.  The Commission issued an Order in 2013 clarifying that the 25% foreign investment mark served only as a trigger requiring the FCC to review applications on a case-by-case basis, not an automatic bar to such investment.  Foreign investment in broadcast licensees above 25% required prior express consent, based on an evaluation of public interest and national security considerations.  Also in 2013, the FCC streamlined the process for reviewing foreign ownership amounts in excess of 25% for common carrier and aeronautical radio licensees.  The recent Broadcast Liberalization Order largely extended these same rules and procedures to broadcast licensees, with certain exceptions and modifications.
Continue Reading FCC Liberalizes Rules for Foreign Investment in U.S. Broadcast Licensees