The UK has, in recent years, been weak in protecting homegrown companies from acquisition in order to safeguard strategic national interests, as the sale of global processor IP giant to Softbank of Japan demonstrated in 2016. Perhaps belatedly, the country has introduced new security legislation to protect such interests, which has led to probes of two recent deals – the purchase of an 18% stake in BT by French billionaire investor Patrick Drahi; and the 2021 sale of a semiconductor plant, Newport Wafer Fab, to Nexperia of The Netherlands, which is 100% owned by Wingtech of China. BT shares fell in value by 5% on the news that a full investigation will be held into Drahi’s holdings in BT,…