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Recommended firms Tier 1 A&L Goodbody Arthur Cox Matheson Ormsby Prentice William Fry Tier 2 McCann FitzGerald Tier 3 Mason Hayes & Curran Irish M&A statistics for the last year provide interesting reading. Law firms have not enjoyed a massive growth in work, as the volume of deals has been static while the overall value soared.

Recommended firms Tier 1 Bredin Prat Cleary Gottlieb Darrois Villey Maillot Brochier Linklaters Tier 2 Gide Loyrette Nouel Skadden Arps Sullivan & Cromwell International firms Linklaters and Cleary Gottlieb joined domestic rivals Bredin Prat and Darrois Villey in the top tier for French M&A advice the first time. The message from the market is that there is no longer an upper echelon of French M&A that is off-limits to international firms. Respondents to IFLR's researchers identified the influx of private equity money into France as the main reason these barriers have come down.

A look at the M&A boom in 22 countries

Hua An-Lehman has cleared a path for investment, but greater certainty is needed

The deadline for opening all types of renminbi banking business to foreign banks under China's WTO commitments is December 10 2006. But local branches of foreign banks dealing with renminbi businesses for Chinese domestic entities will not automatically be granted with renminbi retail business licences. Foreign banks will need to incorporate a wholly foreign-owned bank in China to obtain an overall renminbi business licence.

The idea of working within China's opaque political system is scary at the best of times. The ability to get real security over onshore assets has held back development there consistently, and the only deals you can ever be sure will work are those with obvious political backing – such as the ICBC IPO.

Patrick Buckingham of Lehman Brothers

In line with the European treaty establishing the principle of free movement of capital (the Single European Act), the National Bank of Romania (the NBR) recently repealed the last of its provisions impeding this free movement. The enactment (NBR Regulation 4/2006) sets out the new status of the foreign exchange market.

Hedge fund relief in Germany and France UK hedge fund Marshall Wace is listing one of its funds, MW Tops, on Euronext Amsterdam. The offering could raise up to €1.5 billion, making it the biggest listing by a single manager fund.

To assess the impact of overseas operations of regulated Indian entities in the financial sector, the Reserve Bank of India has extended its regulations covering Indian entities seeking to make investments overseas to entities engaged in any activity, not just financial sector activities.