Foreign Investment Control in Denmark

Approval Requirements For Foreign Corporate Investments in Denmark

More and more countries are tightening regulations for foreign investors that intend to acquire stakes in companies. Jacob Christensen (Attorney and Managing Partner at Christensen Partners Advokatpartnerselskab based in Copenhagen) describes the legal situation in Denmark and sheds light on the consequences for corporate investments there.

Denmark is indeed in the process of implementing combined mandatory and voluntary FDI screening/approval requirements for certain “sensitive” infrastructure etc. investments/assets. A draft proposal was presented late 2020 and is currently going through a consultation phase before presenting the final proposal.

A number of comments have already been raised regarding e.g. scope, thresholds, timeframes and other issues, so it remains to be seen to what extent the legislators will take these comments into account in the updated final proposal. Also, a number of the more detailed regulations are envisaged to be provided in executive orders, and this also leaves room for some uncertainty about how the proposed measures will end up working in practice.