Jim Chalmers said his new foreign investment portal would streamline approvals. Lawyers disagree.
The Foreign Investment Review Board's new portal is under fire from M&A lawyers, who say it adds time and complexity to deals.
Lawyers are publicly criticising Treasurer Jim Chalmers' new foreign investment application portal, warning it is driving up costs, delaying applications and adding complexity to challenging deals.
The new Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) platform was launched in May in a bid to streamline and strengthen Australia's foreign investment regime. Amid concerns from the Law Council about "user friendliness", Treasury made some amendments to the portal earlier this month.
However, M&A lawyers remain unconvinced the changes have done enough to fix their concerns the government's system is adding to the administrative burden of getting deals across the line. And they think the online portal is exacerbating Australia’s reputation as having some of the world's most stringent inbound investment processes.
Speaking at a recent M&A event jointly run by Allens, King & Wood Mallesons and Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer, Allens M&A partner Chris Blane said issues with the portal have "created a lot of noise amongst practitioners”.
