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A Bill has been presented to the Danish parliament that proposes amendments to, among others, the Danish Securities Trading Act as a consequence of Denmark's implementation of the Transparency Directive. The Bill is set to become effective from January 20 2007, which is the deadline for implementation of the EU Transparency Directive (2004/109) into national legislation.

On June 3 2005, the right of the majority shareholder of a joint-stock company to force minority shareholders to sell their shares (squeeze-out) was implemented into Czech law. Unlike the Directive 2004/25/EC on Takeover Bids, the Czech squeeze-out regime does not require the squeeze-out to be preceded by a takeover bid. Also, the right to squeeze-out may be exercised both in listed and unlisted companies. Lastly, the corresponding right of the minority shareholders to force the majority shareholder to buy their shares (sell-out) was not implemented.

China has been drafting and revising its Corporate Bankruptcy Law since 1994. It was finally adopted on August 27 2006, after the third examination, and will come into effect on June 1 2007. The new law comprises a total of 12 chapters with 136 articles, with a clearer structure and more comprehensive coverage of bankruptcy issues.

The Companies Act (Investment Companies with Variable Share Capital) Regulations 1996 (the Sicav Regulations) are being updated to cater for certain industry developments and to apply the provisions to schemes that have not established sub-funds. The amendments will lead to an increased flexibility and will further enhance Malta's competitive position in the international fund industry.

Recommended firms Tier 1 Bär & Karrer Homburger Lenz & Staehelin Niederer Kraft & Frey Tier 2 Baker & McKenzie Nobel & Hug Pestalozzi Lachenal Patry Schellenberg Wittmer Walder Wyss & Partners Wenger & Vieli The Swiss capital market performed steadily in 2006. Small declines have characterized the figures for initial public offerings (IPOs), high yield bonds and investment grade bonds, but there have been no marked falls.

As political unrest hits the region, South Korea can at least reflect on a successful year of performances in its capital market. While the full economic impact on South Korea of North Korean rogue diplomacy remains to be seen, both the equity and debt markets show impressive figures from 2005 to 2006. The prospect of war in the region will inevitably make foreign investors wary but South Korean economic success has been founded, in any case, on domestic efforts. A decline in the appeal of South Korea to foreign investors has not, and probably will not, have as great an impact as may be imagined.

Recommended firms Tier 1 Uría Menéndez Tier 2 Clifford Chance Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer Garrigues Linklaters Ramón & Cajal The past year saw a strong return for the Spanish initial public offering (IPO) market. The first nine months saw $3.1 billion of offerings, compared to only $187 million the previous year. The first half of 2006 was the busiest period for the market since 1999.

Large-scale privatization has underpinned France's equity activity. November 2005 saw the IPO of Electricité de France, which raised €6.35 billion for the company and showed Hervé Letréguilly's team at Shearman & Sterling competing on even terms with Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and Sullivan & Cromwell. This was followed up by IPOs in 2006 for Arkema, Legrand, Aéroports de Paris and Züblin Immobiliére France kept ECM lawyers busy.

Recommended firms Tier 1 Advokatfirman Vinge Mannheimer Swartling Tier 2 Advokatfirman Cederquist Gernandt & Danielsson Linklaters Setterwalls Advokatbyrå White & Case Advokat Much of the innovation in the Nordic region's capital markets in 2006 surrounded new covered bond legislation. Although Finland and Iceland led the way, Sweden wasn't far behind, seeing two covered bonds issued in quick succession, by Nordea Hypotek and the Swedish Covered Bond Corporation in mid-2006.

Recommended firms Tier 1 Bowman Gilfillan Deneys Reitz Edward Nathan Sonnenbergs Webber Wentzel Bowens Werksmans Tier 2 Brink Cohen Le Roux Cliffe Dekker Jowell Glyn & Marais Like a number of other emerging markets South Africa has had a successful year. Never likely to match the massive growth seen in some areas of Latin America, South Africa has nevertheless enjoyed healthy development in the value of its IPO transactions and growing investment grade corporate bond issuance. This has been a remarkably good year for emerging markets worldwide and those involved with the South African capital market will hope for more of the same in 2007.