In 2022, foreign investment in Australia rose by over $430 billion to almost $4,600bn year on year, with private equity remaining the dominant asset class. Australia's foreign investment regime has undergone significant developments in recent years, and further changes are afoot.
Given the increasingly broad reach and technical intricacies of the regime, it is critical for both domestic and foreign private equity firms investing in Australia to effectively navigate the FIRB aspects of their transactions.
This report seeks to assist private equity investors to do just that: by demystifying the key aspects of Australia's foreign investment regime, as well as highlighting key practical considerations they should have at front of mind in advance of making a FIRB application.
Key topics include:
- why private equity funds are often deemed Foreign Government Investors (FGIs), and the implications of qualifying as an FGI;
- disclosure requirements in relation to a fund's investors, and different approaches managers can take depending on the sensitivity of that information;
- target industry sectors that attract heightened screening;
- ways in which the FIRB approval process may be expedited and/or pre-empted to shorten the timeframe to closing a deal;
- the interplay between FIRB, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and the Australian Taxation Office during the approval process, and how this can be approached proactively to reduce delays;
- how target companies and vendors are increasingly seeking to manage FIRB risks on deals;
- recent trends we are seeing in the types of conditions attached to FIRB approvals; and post- FIRB approval obligations which investors must comply with, including the most recently introduced reporting requirements.
Download the document via the link below.