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Seda Akipek and Müjdem Aksoy of Cerrahoglu examine the implications of changes to Turkey’s Commercial Code which allow for electronic company meetings

Thomas Thorndike The energy industry in Peru is divided into three main sub-sectors: generation, transmission and distribution. The development of energy projects, regardless of the sub-sector, requires the execution of a concession agreement with the relevant governmental agency, authorising the sponsors to develop the project, and establishing the applicable terms. Such concession agreements set out the technical and contractual conditions of the project, including certain terms and conditions as to how it is to be financed.

Cristina E Thayer In early 1995, a non-profit organisation called The City of Knowledge Foundation was created to manage some areas to be reverted to Panamanian control located at a former military facility (Fort Clayton). The aim was to create a new cluster for research, knowledge exchange, innovation and sustainable development not only for the country, but for the region as well. In 1998, Executive Order number 6 brought the idea into fruition, providing for the assignment of the Fort Clayton land and infrastructure to the Foundation, and describing the terms, obligations and incentives for the execution of The City of Knowledge (TCK). By eliminating the quantitative limitations established by the Labor Code and establishing special visas for researchers, professors and technical personnel, entities affiliated to TCK were allowed to hire foreign professionals as needed. Furthermore, tax incentives were granted to the Foundation and its affiliates whereby import and sales taxes were exempted for equipment, machinery, furniture or materials if necessary for the development of the project; and international transfers of funds were exempted from taxes when those transfers are made for the furtherance of the project's objectives.

Borys D Sawicki Times of economic slowdown create additional challenges for businesses. Limited availability of external financing and delays in payments from contractors prompt entrepreneurs to seek tools that could improve their financial position. Factoring is certainly one of the instruments at which it is worth taking a closer look. In Poland, factoring is an unregulated agreement as opposed to typical agreements regulated by the Civil Code, such as sale, donation or construction contracts. The parties are, therefore, free to structure their legal relationship as they see it fit, provided that its substance and/or purpose is not contradictory to the nature of the relationship, the law or the principles of community life. Usually, they will model the arrangement in accordance with the prevailing market practice and taking into account views expressed by legal commentators.

The Turkish PPP mechanism is mainly based on collaboration between public and private sectors. This allows the public and private sectors to share the investment cost, risk and profit related to such investment and services. Throughout the last decade the number of PPP projects in Turkey has significantly increased, especially, most recently, in the healthcare sector. Accordingly, the new PPP law on healthcare sector No 6428 was recently enacted. It entered into force on March 9 2013.

Daniel Futej Rudolf Sivak As of January 1 2013, an amendment to the Slovak Act on energy efficiency of buildings came into force introducing several changes with respect to energy efficiency and certification of buildings. According to new legislation, provisions of the Act will not apply to buildings which are used for only a limited time during the year (during weekends or in summer, for example). The non-application is subject to the condition that the expected energy consumption of the building does not exceed 25% of the yearly expected energy consumption.

Noyan Turunç of TURUNÇ provides an overview of the new Turkish law on work health and safety

Fernando Navarro Coderque A number of Spanish companies are nowadays struggling to get new money or to restructure their debt, but traditional financing seems to be still unavailable. In most cases the reason is not the poor fundamentals of such companies but rather that their regular lenders are not in a position to incur further risk with them. Certain companies are therefore looking for new sources of financing and at the same time for another type of financier. For this purpose, high-yield bonds are becoming popular, usually combined with a revolving credit facility, which is a structure that has been used by large Spanish companies where restructuring their debt.

It has been less than a year since IFLR published its 2012 Guide to Turkey, and in that time the country has taken strides towards its goal of becoming an international financial centre.

Sevket Basev of 3 Seas Capital Partners introduces the encouraging developments in Turkey’s M&A market over the last decade