On Friday 10 July 2020, D. Du will defend her PhD dissertation, entitled: ‘A Comparative Study of the Legislative Designs Concerning Foreign Takeover Bids of Listed Companies: China and the Netherlands’.
Foreign takeovers, as a form of foreign direct investment (FDI), establish a long-term relationship between a foreign investor and the invested entity in the recipient country and may bring positive impacts to the host economy. Nevertheless, foreign takeovers have triggered increasing vigilance of the host governments, as foreign ownership of domestic companies is likely to be deemed as a potential threat to local employment, strategic assets, economic network, high-tech competitiveness, and national security. Consequently, various countries resort to a wide variety of legal instruments and impose different degrees of restriction on foreign investors to mitigate the risks caused by cross-border control transactions. The disparity that lies in the national rules regarding foreign takeovers implies that while companies in some countries are well shielded against foreign buyers, the policy toolkits available to protect local companies are likely to remain empty in other countries. Hence, recent years have witnessed an escalating call from many countries for a level playing field and a more reciprocal environment for cross-border takeovers.
Against this background, this comparative research aims to investigate how national legislative designs react to the foreign takeover-related concerns in China and the Netherlands, mainly from the perspectives of (1) state regulations related to FDIs and (2) corporate and securities laws.
The PhD defences will not take place publicly in the Senate Hall or Professor Andries Queridoroom due to the coronavirus. The candidates will defend their thesis online.