Search results for

Recommended firms Tier 1 Allen & Overy Clifford Chance De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek Tier 2 Linklaters NautaDutilh Stibbe The Netherlands has seen substantial growth in two particular areas in 2006, one on the debt side and one in equity. Firstly, high yield corporate bonds have doubled in deal value. The first nine months of the year saw $3.66 billion-worth of activity across eight deals. During the same period of 2005, a mere three deals totalled $1.8 billion. Despite the fact that the average deal value has fallen by a third, the market should be pleased that there are more deals, resulting in more money to be made.

Growing IPO activity over the past year in contrast to declining figures for bond issuance suggests a potentially unbalanced capital market in Japan's recovering economy. But volatility has had one benefit – a surge in the popularity of high yield bond issuance.

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.

The sale of structured financial products, including equity bonds, index bonds and index-linked deposits, is increasing in Norway as well as the rest of Europe. According to unofficial numbers from the Financial Supervisory Authority of Norway (FSAN), about NKr50 billion ($7.5 billion) was invested in these instruments with 22 of the largest banks in Norway in the second quarter of 2006, representing an increase of NKr3.8 billion since the official survey made by the FSAN in the third quarter of 2005. Half of the investments in these structured products appear to be debt-financed and secured on the same instruments. Most of the funds invested originate from investors in the mass retail market. The real numbers might be even higher, because the FSAN survey does not include all foreign financial institutions represented in Norway.

Firms need to find a way to cope with commoditization

US stock exchanges' loss is UK law firms' gain in Hong Kong

Iesy's innovative refinancing structure using high yield debt

Largely unnoticed tax changes will make foreign cash takeovers prohibitively expensive in Japan

A perverse outcome

How private equity structures in Australia have been changing as their leverage rises