Executives at Huawei, the Chinese telecommunications equipment maker, believe the Obama administration will force the company to unwind a $2m purchase of patents that was completed in May, people familiar with the matter told the FT. The committee on foreign investment in the US (Cfius), the panel that conducts classified security reviews of foreign takeovers of US assets, is due to deliver its decision on Monday.

While the company has not yet been told the fate of the deal, executives believe – based on dealings with the US government – that the White House will either force it to be unwound or place such extensive regulations in place that will effectively make use of the technology protected by the patents impossible. Huawei bought the patents from a company called 3Leaf. Before the deal was consummated, the company alerted the Commerce Department about its intentions and requested special export licences to use the patents. Huawei said it was told it would not require special licences, a fact that earlier boosted the company’s confidence that it would win approval of the transaction. If Huawei is forced to unwind the 3Leaf deal, it will send a stark message that the company is likely to be blocked from other attempted acquisitions. A decision to force Huawei to abandon the patents could also have ramifications for US businesses in China, which could face retaliation from Chinese antitrust and other authorities. While Cfius has never commented openly about its alleged concerns over Huawei, analysts close to the government say that the US panel was angered by the fact the Chinese company did not inform it of the 3Leaf deal. Companies technically submit to Cfius reviews voluntarily but Huawei was, in effect, pressured into submitting the transaction for a government review after the deal was already closed. The Treasury Department, which chairs Cfius, declined to comment, citing the classified nature of national security investigations.