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In March 2006, the High Court rejected Ecuador's application to set aside the award of an Uncitral investment arbitration tribunal, the latest twist in the ongoing dispute between Occidental Petroleum and Ecuador.

Simmons & Simmons added to its corporate group in London with the hire of Gavin Weir, a specialist in M&A, equity capital markets and corporate governance. Weir has particular experience of corporate finance transactions in the life sciences and financial institutions sectors. He was previously a senior associate in Allen & Overy's corporate department.

The timing couldn't be better. First there was the £8.2 billion ($14.6 billion) takeover of UK gas company BOC by German peer Linde, financed by a €15 billion bridge loan (more than double Linde's market capitalization), then there was German drug and chemical group Bayer's €16.3 billion purchase of rival Schering, involving high-yield debt, a convertible bond and a rights issue in its financing.

The implementation of the Prospectus Directive in Germany has led to a lot of work for a new team at regulator BaFIN. Simon Crompton talks to Jan Budaeus about the pressures involved

Greg Jordan, Reed Smith US firm Reed Smith and UK firm Richards Butler announced that they intend to merge. The deal, which is still subject to settling a merger agreement, due diligence and partnership votes slated for late May, would be completed by January 1 2007. The combined firm, which will operate under the name Reed Smith, would include approximately 1,300 lawyers and will have forecast total revenue of $725 million. According to the letter of intent Greg Jordan, Reed Smith's managing partner, will lead the combined firm.

Securitization is increasingly being used as a source of takeover financing, giving structured finance lawyers access to M&A deals, says Ben Maiden

Thomas Heather explains how the new insolvency law in Mexico coped with its first international test in the Satmex case

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By António de Macedo Vitorino and André Vasques Dias of Macedo Vitorino & Associados