作者:罗华Laura Luo, Matthew Dickerson 金杜律师事务所

2020年4月29日,美国财政部的投资安全办公室在《联邦公报》上公布了有关CFIUS申报费的暂行规定 [1],为交易各方向CFIUS提交正式书面报备规定了申报费,实施《2018年外国投资风险评估现代化法案》(“FIRRMA法案”)的第1723条。该暂行规定适用于2020年5月1日之后向CFIUS提交的所有报备,而且在收到申报费前CFIUS一般不会接受或开始审阅交易方所提交的报备。为鼓励交易方使用简要报备(而非全面申报)的申报方式,暂行规定对于向CFIUS提交的简要报备并不设置申报费。

书面报备的申报费根据“交易总值”分为以下几档:

暂行规定指出,“交易总值”应为外国人“已支付或将支付的所有交易对价总值”,包括所有现金和非现金资产、服务及其他实物对价。这些交易对价的价值根据以下标准确定:
  • 公开交易证券的价值以申报提交日的前一个交易日的收盘价格为准;
  • 其他非现金资产、服务及其他实物对价按照申报提交日当天的“公允市值”确定其价值;
  • 债权以其现金价值为准;
  • 外国人所拥有的或有股权的转换应当按照为购买该股权所支付的初始对价确定其价值,如果股权转换条件即将发生,则还需要在初始对价的基础上再加上与该股权转换相关的额外对价。
如果在申报提交日当天,外国人所支付的对价尚未或无法合理确定,则相关未计算对价应当包括申报提交当天所购得权益的“公允市值”。此外,还应当进行下列调整:
  •  如果交易方将一项美国业务转让至一个合资企业,则交易对价等于所有被转让美国业务的价值总和(但是美国财政部也在考虑使用其他替代方法计算该等对价价值,并鼓励公众对此提出意见);
  • 如果对价总值达到5,000,000美元或以上,但是“美国业务资产的公允市值”低于5,000,000美元,则需要缴纳一项750美元的申报费;
  • 在一项多阶段交易中,交易总值应当包括每个阶段的、在申报提交当天可合理确定的交易总值。
“公允市值”的定义为:“在一项市场参与方之间进行的有序交易中,为获得某项权益、获得服务或转让债务所支付的价格”;而且交易方通常可以按照一般公认会计原则、国际财务报告准则或独立评估方所确定的最近期的估值(即过去六个月内)确认公允市值。
交易各方需要在申报文件中附上有关交易总值确定方法及所适用申报费计算的说明。
根据与国家安全有关的特殊情况的需要,CFIUS可以免除全部或部分申报费。在有限情况下,申报费可予以退还——例如当CFIUS认定所审查交易不属于“受管辖交易”或“受管辖房地产交易”时。若CFIUS允许交易方撤回报备或重新提交报备,交易方无需再支付额外申报费,除非CFIUS认为该交易发生了实质性变更,或所提交申报存在实质性错误或疏漏。
申报费必须通过Pay.gov 网站[2]支付,申报费相关说明可通过美国财政部网站查询。
美国财政部目前正在向公众征询关于本暂行规定的意见,2020年6月1日截止。
有任何相关问题,请联系我们。

参考资料:美国财政部网站[3],2020年5月。

 


CFIUS Establishes Filing Fees

Preface On April 29, 2020, The U.S. Department of the Treasury, Office of Investment Security, published an interim rule[1] in the Federal Register, establishing a fee for transaction parties filing a formal written notice of a transaction for review by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (“CFIUS“), implementing section 1723 of the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act of 2018 (“FIRRMA“).

The interim rule applies to all notices filed with CFIUS on or after May 1, 2020; and CFIUS will not generally accept the filing, or begin its review, until it has received the filing fee. To encourage the use of short-form declarations, instead of full filings, no fees will apply to short-form declarations filed with CFIUS.
The filing fee for written notices shall be based upon the “value” of the transaction, as follows:

The interim rule prescribes that the value of the transaction shall mean “the total value of all consideration that has been or will be provided” by the foreign person, including all cash and non-cash assets, services and other in-kind consideration. These are determined, as follows:
  • Traded securities will be valued at the closing price on the trading day immediately prior to the date of filing;
  • other non-cash assets, services and other in-kind consideration will be determined by their “fair market value” on the filing date;
  • loans will be valued at their cash value;
  • the conversion of contingent equity interests previously acquired by the foreign person shall be valued at the consideration initially paid to acquire such interests, plus any additional consideration paid in connection with the conversion if the conditions leading to the conversion will occur imminently.
Where the consideration paid by the foreign person has not been, or cannot be, reasonably determined as of the date of filing the notice, the relevant uncalculated consideration shall include the “fair market value” of the interest being acquired as of the date of filing. Further, the following adjustments may be made:
  • Where one U.S. business is contributed to a joint venture, the value of the transaction is the collective value of each U.S. business contributed (although the U.S Department of the Treasury is considering alternative methods of calculating this, and is encouraging the submission of public comments);
  • Where the value of the transaction is $5,000,000 or more, but the “fair market value of the assets of the U.S. business” is less than $5,000,000, a filing fee of $750 will be applied; and
  • In a multiple-phase transaction, the value of the transaction includes the total value of each phase, as may be reasonably determined as of the date of the filing.
The term “fair market value” is defined to mean “the price that would be received in exchange for sale of an interest, or paid to receive a service or to transfer liability, in an orderly transaction between market participants“, and the transaction parties may generally rely on the last recent valuation (i.e. within the last six months) as presented in financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP, IFRS or the valuation of an independent appraiser.
Transaction parties will be required to include, within the filing, an explanation of the methodology used to determine the value of the transaction and calculation of the applicable fee.
CFIUS may waive the filing fee, in whole or in part, if extraordinary circumstances relating to national security warrant such a waiver.
Refunds are available in limited circumstances, including when CFIUS determines the transaction is not a “covered transaction” or “covered real estate transaction”.
Where CFIUS permits parties to withdraw and refile a notice, parties are not required to pay an additional fee unless CFIUS determines that a material change to the transaction has occurred or the filing contained a material inaccuracy or omission.
Payment must be made through Pay.gov[2] and instructions are available on the Treasury Department’s website.
The U.S. Department of the Treasury is seeking public comments on the interim rule, which must be received by June 1, 2020.
Please contact us if you have any questions.

Source: Website[3], U.S. Department of the Treasury, May 2020