Local Insights

After ratification of the first sustainable investment facilitation agreement, between the EU and Angola, Carla Gonçalves Borges, Mariana França Gouveia, and Assunção Cristas of Vieira de Almeida analyse ESG considerations in African states’ investment treaties

ESG considerations are becoming an increasingly important factor in investment decisions in Ghana. Lady-Ann Essuman, Ewurama Osam Tawiah, and Verissa Odame-Koranteng of VINT & Aletheia, Attorneys and Consultants explain why, and how, the new reality should be embraced

As the financial services ecosystem in Nigeria continues its rapid development, DealHQ Partners provides a guide to the latest regulatory initiative regarding contactless payments

João Nuno Riquito and Hália Cerqueira of Riquito Advogados explain how Macau’s new Civil Aviation Act and airport expansion will open the market, boost competition, and modernise the region’s commercial aviation framework

Ning Zhu, Wenhui Luo, and Yang Li, Chance Bridge Law Firm

Tung Nguyen, VILAF

In 2014 the Irish parliament passed the Merchant Shipping (Registration of Ships) Act 2014 (the Act) to update the regime for the registration of Irish ships and the regime for registering mortgages over ships. It is intended that the new regime will provide a more efficient, user friendly and accessible regime for commercial ship owners and those involved in financing the construction and purchase of vessels. Among other things the Act provides for the establishment of an electronic ship ownership and mortgage register. It preserves all of the basic protections under the existing regime for banks which have a mortgage over commercial ships. With the exception of one provision, however, the Act has not yet been commenced. Given the potential for the further development of shipping finance in Ireland, it is hoped that the government will soon implement it.

Initial coin offerings (ICOs) are now the focus of both the public's and the regulator's attention. ICOs are a digitalised method of raising capital in which an organisation issues tradable digital units (tokens) to finance a specific project or to develop it further. They are exclusively used to fund early stage projects of startups, often without a clear track record and with unclear success probability. In the course of the offering, the investor receives a token from the issuing organisation in exchange for cryptocurrencies (for example, bitcoin) or standard currencies (also referred to as fiat money). Tokens are created on a blockchain and exist as tradable digital units on distributed ledgers as a part of a protocol. For example, the Ethereum blockchain provides not only the cryptocurrency Ether, but also a platform to write smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain, which makes it possible for market participants to easily generate and issue their own tokens, mostly on the basis of the ERC-20 token standard.

The rescue of two regional Italian lenders was carried out as a liquidation, not a resolution, which could undermine the credibility of EU rules on bank failures

Decreased availability and increased costs of funding have altered the behaviour of borrowers and lenders in the Peruvian leveraged finance market. Thomas Thorndike of Garrigues highlights the main themes and considers the outlook

Rita de la Guardia and Patricia Cordero, Alemán, Cordero, Galindo & Lee

Jaime Trujillo Caicedo, Alexandra Montealegre and María Camila Vargas, Baker McKenzie

Hossam Gramon, Karima Seyam, and Nour El Kholy of ADSERO – Ragy Soliman & Partners report that Egypt’s capital markets are undergoing structural reform and product diversification, reshaping the debt, ESG, and fintech sectors

Simone Del Nevo and Rahul Sud, ASAR – Al Ruwayeh & Partners

Ezekiel Tuma, John Cunha, and Luis Cunha, ASAR – Al Ruwayeh & Partners

Robert Katz and Charles Ruck, Latham & Watkins

Robert M Katz and Charles Ruck, Latham & Watkins

Robert Katz and Charles Ruck, Latham & Watkins