Chinese takeover of Flusso was quietly cleared last year
The UK government has said that the acquisition of flow sensor developer Flusso by a Chinese company was already looked at and cleared in 2022 and further action is not required.
Flusso Ltd. (Cambridge, England) is a startup that spun out of Cambridge University in 2016. In 2022 it was sold for £28 million (about US$34 million) to an unnamed company and an unnamed private equity fund that both appeared to have Chinese origins (see UK flow sensor startup sold to company with China connection).
Earlier this month MP Alicia Kearns said in the House of Commons that the purchaser was Shanghai Sierchi Enterprise Management Partnership LP and that she had written to Business Secretary Grant Shapps calling for the deal to be investigated under national security legislation (see Chinese purchase of Cambridge startup challenged by MP).
Kearns is chair of the foreign affairs select committee and of the China Research Group, and said the acquisition of Flusso by a Chinese company was of “significant” concern.
However, The BEIS department issued a statement Tuesday 24 January 2023, saying that previous Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng called the deal in on 9 March 2022 under the National Security and Investment Act (2021) in 2022 and it was decided to take no further action. The final notification of this was issued to both parties on 21 June 2022, the statement said.
Apparently, no statement was issued at the time.
Related links and articles:
News articles:
Chinese purchase of Cambridge startup challenged by MP
UK flow sensor startup sold to company with China connection
Nexperia lawyers up for fight over Newport Wafer Fab
China-owned Okmetic breaks ground on 200mm wafer fab
Belgian wafer fab sold to GaN startup with China connections
If you enjoyed this article, you will like the following ones: don't miss them by subscribing to :
