The 2009 guide to Mergers & Acquisitions

• Editorial

• Austria: Distressed M&A on the rise

  Markus Fellner and Paul Luiki of Fellner Wratzfeld & Partners analyse the Austrian M&A market after the latest downturn

• Brazil: Private equity finds a home

  The important regulation facing venture capital investors in Brazil. Fabio Campos Mello and Marcus Vinicius Bitencourt of Campos Mello Pontes Vinci & Schiller explain

• Canada: Recent developments in Canadian M&A

  William J Braithwaite and John Ciardullo of Stikeman Elliott address recent developments of importance in Canadian M&A

• Cayman Islands: Statutory mergers brought in

  Iain McMurdo of Maples and Calder explains how Cayman has introduced statutory mergers into the Companies Law

• Croatia: The Croatian sensation

  Irina Jelcic of Hanzekovic Radakovic & Partners analyses the most recent cross-border M&A transactions into Croatia and the legislative innovations

• Germany: Modernising the Companies Act

  Christian Tönies and Marco Eickmann of P+P Pöllath + Partners discuss the German Private Limited Companies Act reform and its effects on the German M&A market

• India: Regulating inbound investment

  Rajat Sethi of S&R Associates on how to navigate new regulations on foreign investment in India

• Indonesia: Getting the deal done

  Linda Widyati and Emalia Achmadi of Soemadipradja & Taher on how to negotiate Indonesia's complex regulatory environment

• Japan: Japan's landscape

  Yo Uraoka of Mori Hamada & Matsumoto discusses important changes and developments in Japan's corporate laws

• Kuwait: Emerging M&A

  Rob Little and John Cunha of Al Sarraf & Al Ruwayeh on the regulatory regime that governs Kuwaiti M&A

• Luxembourg: Modernising company law

  Dirk Leermakers and Gérald Origer of Loyens & Loeff describe the benefits of a draft bill to change the law in Luxembourg

• Malaysia: The action plan

  Loong Caesar of Raslan Loong discusses how Malaysia's stimulus packages will support M&A activity in the county

• Mexico: The Mexican Pipe

  The M&A Group at Creel García-Cuéllar Aiza y Enríquez introduces the Mexican private investment in public equity transaction

• Norway: Lessons learned

  Thomas Farhang and Øystein Løken of Kvale & Co describe how the Norwegian government learned the perils of minority investments the hard way

• Peru: Bright spot

  Víctor Marroquín of Marroquín & Merino outlines why more relaxed regulations allow M&A to boom in Peru

• Portugal: Pre-bid defences

  The break-through rule has not been fully implemented in Portugal, so takeover bids can be complex, says Maria Vaz de Mascarenhas, of Pedro Pinto Reis & Associados

• Romania: Merging for new reasons

  M&A activity has slowed down in Romania, but mergers can provide much needed cash and fresh business models, say Cosmin Stavaru and Mihaela Cucurezeanu of Bulboaca & Asociatii

• Slovakia: Acquiring shares in a joint-stock

  Daniel Futej of Futej & Partners sets out the options for an acquisition of shares in a joint-stock company on a regulated securities market in Slovakia

• South Africa: New companies bill

  Rudolph du Plessis of Bowman Gillfillan discusses South Africa's recent companies legislation, and how it will change M&A transactions

• South Korea: Bucking the trend

  Tae Hyun Park and Steven Hahn of Kim & Chang discuss how Korea is fighting back against the global downturn

• Spain: M&A legislation in review

  Oriol Armengol and Vicente Conde of Perez-Llorca look back at recent legislation from European governments and how it is affecting Spanish M&A activity

• Switzerland: New takeover legislation

  Alexander Vogel, Christoph Heiz, Daniel Schoch and Andrea Sieber of Meyer Lustenberger discuss the Swiss legislative reform that has changed the way M&A is done

• Taiwan: Sparking cross-strait M&A talk

  Ken-Ying Tseng, Robin Chang, Lihuei Mao and Patricia Lin of Lee and Li

• Tanzania: The rights to merge

  Nimrod Mkono and Patrick Ache of Mkono & Co Advocates discuss the legislation in place to deal with cross-border M&A

• Thailand: Turbulent and challenging

  Pradit Sahachaiyunta and Paul A Connelly of International Legal Counsellors Thailand examine recent trends and regulation affecting M&A

• Turkey: Still strong

  Cüneyt Yüksel and Selen Sümer of YükselKarklnKüçük Law Firm outline M&A transactions in Turkey

• United Kingdom: Advising companies in difficulty

  Gareth Roberts and Gail Watt of Herbert Smith discuss the options available to the boards of companies in trouble

• Vietnam: Strategic sales in equitisations

  Duong Thu Ha and John R Davis of YKVN discuss the position of foreign strategic investors in the equitisation of large state-owned enterprises