Section 801.304 - Treatment of certain investment fund investments(a) An indirect investment by a foreign person in a pilot program U.S. business through an investment fund that affords the foreign person (or a designee of the foreign person) membership as a limited partner or equivalent on an advisory board or a committee of the fund shall not be considered a pilot program covered transaction with respect to the foreign person if: (1) The fund is managed exclusively by a general partner, a managing member, or an equivalent;(2) The foreign person is not the general partner, managing member, or equivalent;(3) The advisory board or committee does not have the ability to approve, disapprove, or otherwise control: (i) Investment decisions of the investment fund; or(ii) Decisions made by the general partner, managing member, or equivalent related to entities in which the investment fund is invested;(4) The foreign person does not otherwise have the ability to control the investment fund, including the authority: (i) To approve, disapprove, or otherwise control investment decisions of the investment fund;(ii) To approve, disapprove, or otherwise control decisions made by the general partner, managing member, or equivalent related to entities in which the investment fund is invested; or(iii) To unilaterally dismiss, prevent the dismissal of, select, or determine the compensation of the general partner, managing member, or equivalent;(5) The foreign person does not have access to material nonpublic technical information as a result of its participation on the advisory board or committee; and(6) The investment otherwise meets the requirements of paragraph (4)(D) of subsection (a) of section 721 made effective by part 801.(b) For the purposes of paragraphs (a)(3) and (4), and except as provided in paragraph (c) of this section, a waiver of a potential conflict of interest, a waiver of an allocation limitation, or a similar activity, applicable to a transaction pursuant to the terms of an agreement governing an investment fund shall not be considered to constitute control of investment decisions of the investment fund or decisions relating to entities in which the investment fund is invested.(c) In extraordinary circumstances, the Committee may consider the waiver of a potential conflict of interest, the waiver of an allocation limitation, or a similar activity, applicable to a transaction pursuant to the terms of an agreement governing an investment fund, to constitute control of investment decisions of the investment fund or decisions relating to entities in which the investment fund is invested. Example 1. Corporation A, a foreign person, makes an investment in an investment fund as a limited partner. The investment confers membership on an advisory board of the investment fund. The investment fund holds 100 percent of the ownership interests in a pilot program U.S. business. Corporation A will have the right to approve decisions made by the general partner with respect to the use and development of the critical technologies produced by the pilot program U.S. business. This transaction is a pilot program covered transaction.
Example 2. Corporation A, a foreign person, makes an investment in an investment fund as a limited partner. The investment confers membership on an advisory board of the investment fund. The investment fund holds 100 percent of the ownership interests in a pilot program U.S. business. Corporation A is not the general partner that wholly manages the investment fund. Corporation A lacks any ability to control the investment fund or its decisions. As a member of the advisory board, Corporation A has the right to vote on the compensation of the general partner and the right to vote on the dismissal of the general partner for cause, but does not have the power to determine either of these matters unilaterally. Assuming no other relevant facts, this transaction is not a pilot program covered transaction with respect to Corporation A.