Fifteen trends to expect in 2006

Japanese poison pills. Hedge fund-led LBOs. The first rulebook for US securitization deals. New faces at the SEC.

All of these things will occupy lawyers' time in 2006.

In both Europe and the US, 2006 will be a year of putting reforms into practice in capital markets deals as Reg AB and securities offerings reforms in the US, while Europe learns how the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (Mifid) and the Transparency Directive will be implemented. After almost half a decade of reforms, much of 2006 will be about putting the new ways of offering securities and complying with legal requirements into effect. This should be a year of innovation, giving the most progressive advisers the opportunity to develop new deal structures and tools that take the best of the new global legal infrastructure while working around the impracticalities. Many US issuers will be looking to take advantage of simplified...