On Friday, former U.S. President Donald Trump prevented an intended acquisition of a U.S. photonics company HieFo Corp on the grounds of national security risks and apprehension over Chinese ownership connections. The ruling is blocking HieFo in its effort to acquire New Jersey-based aerospace and defence technology company Emcore some of its assets worth $3 million.
Trump declared in an executive order issued by the White House that HieFo Corp is controlled by a citizen of the Peoples Republic of China, which provokes concern regarding threats to the national security of the UAE. He told the court that he was made to believe by the acquisition of Emcore to conduct its business operations in 2024 by the company that HieFo would act in a manner that would interfere with the security interest of the United States. The order, nevertheless, failed to state who the individual was and to give any particular information about the perceived risks.
The order then prohibited the transaction, and ordered HieFo to dispose of all interests and rights in the assets of Emcore, wherever located, within 180 days.
After the ruling, the U.S Treasury Department reported that the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) had discovered national security risks in its analysis of the deal. The department failed to expound on the nature of these risks.
HieFo and Emcore had not responded immediately and neither of the two had any official statement on their websites at the end of Friday.
The company that was publicly traded at the time of the deal before it became a private company, Emcore, had earlier announced that HieFo had purchased its chip business and indium-phosphide wafer fabrication business at about 2.92 million.
HieFo has argued that it was started by Genzo Zhang, a former vice president of engineering at Emcore, and Harry Moore who, according to his LinkedIn profile, has had a prior history as a senior sales director at Emcore.
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