Status:  Withdrawn; Abandoned

On January 22, 2016, Koninklijke Philips N.V., a leading technology company headquartered in the Netherlands, announced that it was withdrawing its CFIUS filing and terminating an agreement with GO Scale Capital, which had agreed to acquire an 80.1% interest in Philips’ LED lighting division Lumileds for US$2.9 billion. (Koninklijke Philips Press Release, Philips and consortium led by GO Scale Capital terminate Lumileds transaction, Jan. 22, 2016.) The 19.9% ownership Philips planned to retain included a 34% ownership in Lumileds’ US operations.  (See Koninklijke Philips Press Release, Philips to sell majority interest in combined LED components and Automotive lighting business to consortium led by GO Scale Capital, Mar. 31, 2015.) GO Scale Capital is a growth stage investment fund, sponsored by GSR Ventures and Oak Investment Partners, with “deep technology expertise and a track record in scaling up disruptive technologies.” (Id.) The consortium partners are Asia Pacific Resource Development, Nanchang Industrial Group and GSR Capital. (Id.)  Philips stated in its press release, “[d]espite the extensive efforts of Philips and GO Scale Capital to mitigate the concerns of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), regulatory clearance has not been granted for this particular transaction.” (Koninklijke Philips Press Release, Philips and consortium led by GO Scale Capital terminate Lumileds transaction, Jan. 22, 2016.)  The announcement comes after Philips’s CEO Frans Van Houten expressed during an earnings call that, due to CFIUS’ concerns, “the closing of the transaction is uncertain.” (See Koninklijke Philips Transcript, Third Quarter Results 2015, Oct. 26, 2015.)