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The acquisition of British Energy featured unique CVRs that could be a model for future deals in uncertain markets

The UK implementation of the Transparency Directive opens the way for US-style stock-drop litigation. Investors are busy lining up candidates

Liquidity regulation similar to that proposed by the UK Financial Services Authority (FSA) in December should be expected throughout Europe across 2009, but liquidity could remain trapped as regulators compete for assets.

Product transparency will place the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (Mifid) firmly back under scrutiny. The credit crunch has shown that bankers (and private investors) were buying products that they simply did not understand.

This year, 2009, is considered to be an important milestone in the trading and distribution sector in Vietnam. On January 1 2009, Vietnam committed under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to allow full market access to foreign investors seeking to engage in the retail sector. This means that foreign investors are now allowed to establish a 100% wholly-owned company to engage in trading and distribution.

European hedge fund regulation is inevitable in 2009. As one regulatory partner in London jokes: "They were the bad people that shorted the financial stock in the summer and they should be punished for it."

In Vietnam, M&A is regulated by the Competition Law, which took effect in 2005. Certain unclear aspects have recently been discussed by the Vietnam Competition Administration Department of the Ministry of Industry and Trade for the purpose of issuing a decree for regulating M&A transactions.

In reaction to the recent financial turmoil, Turkey has adopted a new law introducing tax benefits for taxpayers who repatriate or declare their unrecorded assets, including cash, foreign currency, securities and other capital market instruments, and even real estate. These benefits will cover both domestic and foreign-source income, and no tax inspections or reassessments will be made based on the declared assets.

As a part of the continuing process of harmonisation of local law with EC Law, Romania has recently transposed, through Law 284/2008 amending Law 31/1990 (Law 284/2008), the Directive 2006/68/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of September 6 2006 amending Council Directive 77/91/EEC regarding the formation of public limited liability companies and the maintenance and alteration of their capital (Directive).

It is difficult to build a complete picture of the actual status of privatisation vouchers as evaluated against the remaining privatisation potential, considering the lack of necessary indicators from official sources. The sporadic indicators made available to us from other public sources show a disappointing and worrying picture. For instance, the figures solely concerning privatisation vouchers indicate that the government has issued a total of L74 million ($769,000) of privatisation vouchers. Out of that number, only 68.3% have been distributed to Albanian citizens. A small quantity, 17.6% of the total issued, have been used in the privatisation process. The remaining 85.4% remain in the hands of their holders or as a promise for distribution (the issued but not-distributed portion that amounts to 31.7%). On the other hand, the number of companies in which the state continues to own a full or partial stake is relatively small. For instance, we can name ARMO (15% state ownership), Albpetrol (100% state ownership), OSSH (24% state ownership), AMC (12.5% state ownership), Albtelekom, (24% state ownership), INSIG (61% state ownership) and a few other companies operating in the water and energy industries and the non-strategic sector.