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Andrew Ruff of Shearman & Sterling leads us through a comprehensive history of project finance in China

The nominated deals and teams for 2008, including a new corporate counsel award

September 7 2008 will be remembered by US capital markets participants as the day on which the government took over operation of the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Association (Freddie Mac). To be precise, the Director of the Financial Housing Finance Authority (FHFA) placed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac into conservatorship. The appointment of the FHFA as conservator was based on legislative provisions that had been enacted in the summer under the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. The announced purpose of the conservatorship is to assure the entities' safety and soundness while providing stability and liquidity to the housing market. In addition, the US Treasury agreed to purchase preferred shares of both entities and to provide additional capital support to them under certain scenarios, as well as provide short-term secured credit to them when, and if, needed, and purchase mortgage-backed securities issued by them in the secondary market.

Ludek Vrána and Robert Pelikán of Linklaters provide an update on Czech competition law and highlight areas of future progress

Developing and financing renewables in Greece can be complex and slow. But great prospects lie ahead, say Dimitris Assimakis and Minas Kitsilis of Norton Rose

Project finance plays a fundamental role in today’s rapidly expanding German energy market and will continue to do so in the future, say Tobias Schulten and Björn Heinlein of Clifford Chance

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has finally clarified the last category of qualified buyers (QBs) under Subsection 10.1(l) of the Securities Regulation Code (SRC), which refers to persons that the SEC "may by rule determine as qualified buyers, on the basis of such factors as financial sophistication, net worth, knowledge, and experience in financial and business matters, or amount of assets under management". The clarification is set out in SEC Memorandum Circulars 6 (2007) and 3 (2008).

On September 30 2008, parts of the new Trust Law regarding declarations of trust (trusts under which an entity acts as both the trustor and the trustee (jiko-shintaku)) took effect. Under Japan's previous Trust Law, the dominant view was that a declaration of trust was not allowed, but the new Trust Law explicitly states that a declaration of trust is allowed if certain criteria apply. Declarations of trust could have a big impact on certain types of business transactions, including securitisations.

This is the future of true-sale shariah deals

This was an easy win for the FSA. Wait until they break a syndicate