MassPoint PLLC Blog

Sanctions, emerging technologies, and export controls law and policy insights.
Agriculture Investment

Foreign Investment in U.S. Agriculture Under Scrutiny

The 2013 sale of American pork producer and processer Smithfield Foods to China’s Shuanghui International aroused concern among some U.S. lawmakers. The $4.7 billion deal ($7.1 billion including debt), was and remains the largest acquisition of a U.S. business by a Chinese entity. This year, some U.S. lawmakers are again raising concerns about a Chinese firm’s acquisition of an agricultural company: the proposed $43 billion acquisition by state-owned China National Chemical Corporation (ChemChina) of Syngetna AG , the Swiss agrochemicals company that does substantial business in the United States. If completed, the Syngenta deal would “transform ChemChina into the world’s biggest supplier of pesticides and agrochemicals.”With Chinese buyers, record-setting deals, and industry-leading acquisition targets in the mix, the Smithfield and Syngenta transactions provide the ingredients needed to stir media interest and controversy about foreign investment in and affecting the United States. Beyond deal optics, a more interesting, strategically-oriented, and potentially consequential policy and public discourse about foreign investment in U.S. agriculture is emerging in the United States, at least in some quarters

Islamic Banking & Finance

Islamic Finance for Food Security in the Middle East: Food Security Waqf

Hdeel Abdelhady proposes a multilateral food security waqf, a type of Islamic trust or endowment, as a vehicle of investment in the future food security of the Middle East. This article focuses on the rationale and objectives of a waqf-based framework currently under development by the author, for application by governments, institutions, and private entities. The structures under development combine the waqf (as a foundational framework to allocate funding and other assets) with Islamic financing structures, Islamic and conventional asset management approaches, Shari’ah- and civil law-based legal frameworks, and effective governance and operational models to achieve measureable impact, in a manner that equitably and rationally distributes rights and responsibilities among parties across the food supply chain, from government consumers to small farmers.

Doing Business in Emerging Markets

Islamic Finance for Food Security in the Middle East: Food Security Waqf.doc

Hdeel Abdelhady proposes a multilateral food security waqf, a type of Islamic trust or endowment, as a vehicle of investment in the future food security of the Middle East. This article focuses on the rationale and objectives of a waqf-based framework currently under development by the author, for application by governments, institutions, and private entities. The structures under development combine the waqf (as a foundational framework to allocate funding and other assets) with Islamic financing structures, Islamic and conventional asset management approaches, Shari’ah- and civil law-based legal frameworks, and effective governance and operational models to achieve measureable impact, in a manner that equitably and rationally distributes rights and responsibilities among parties across the food supply chain, from government consumers to small farmers.

Anti-Corruption

Anti-corruption, AML nexus for Financial Institution Compliance

Recent investigations of financial institutions for “corrupt” hiring of foreign officials’ family members highlight links between anticorruption and AML compliance and enforcement. Financial institutions dealing with politically exposed persons and state-owned enterprises should leverage AML expertise to bolster anticorruption compliance.

Doing Business in Emerging Markets

Strong Governance and Compliance Creates Value for Emerging Markets Firms

Like some emerging economy countries, some EMEs that have had prior success and are financially strong are, at the enterprise level, in transitional phases. These EMEs:(1) are facing changing global and local economic and operating conditions;  (2) have newfound global visibility that invites greater public scrutiny; (3) have strategic, next level goals; and, (4) must navigate established and evolving standards of business conduct that are being set and enforced by diverse external constituencies and growing more material to the bottom line. To adapt to changing conditions and advance their objectives efficiently—i.e., by proactively limiting reputational, commercial, legal and other risks and costs and capitalizing on opportunities that favor well-governed enterprises—these EMEs need not just strong governance, but entrepreneurial governance.

Agriculture Investment

Middle East Food Security

F
ood insecurity is a global threat. The nature of food and the means of its production make food insecurity a uniquely complex problem with social, political, economic, and ethical dimensions. Serious efforts to promote food security must respond to the complexities of the challenge. At the national level, Middle Eastern countries have attempted to address food insecurity risks through food subsidies, export bans, price ceilings, and other policy measures. Others, particularly Gulf Cooperation Council (“GCC”) states, have sought to bolster food security by acquiring farmland overseas. Acquisitions of overseas farmland and land-use rights by Arab countries and other parties have not been without controversy. The acquisition of agricultural land to produce food exclusively for the benefit of acquirer countries is legally and politically risky. As a region, the Middle East has not explored its potential to sustainably bolster food security by marshaling its combined monetary, natural and human resources for the long-term benefit of its inhabitants. It is in the region’s best interest to identify and pursue strategies to bolster food security, through increased regional production and other means, in ways that are not only economically, legally, and environmentally sustainable, but also are politically, socially, and ethically sound.

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