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Josée Weydert of NautaDutilh Luxembourg outlines the effects of Prospectus Directive implementation on offering or listing securities in Luxembourg

Samuli Palin and Anu Tuomola of Castrén & Snellman Attorneys Ltd assess the surge in foreign interest in real estate deals, and explain how such deals are structured and financed

The SEC's plans to revive the tender offer as a viable alternative to the one-step merger may need refining. Ben Maiden reports

Mary Schapiro, NASD NASD, the world's largest private sector securities regulator, announced that Mary Schapiro is to succeed Robert Glauber as chairman and chief executive of the organization. She was previously head of NASD's regulatory policy and oversight division. In that role she served as the chief regulator for more than 5,000 securities brokerages firms and almost 700,000 registered brokers. Before joining NASD, Schapiro chaired the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and was an SEC commissioner.

The UK Ministry of Defence completed the £1.34 billion ($2.35 billion) refinancing of the Skynet 5 private finance initiative programme. The deal restructures the original 2003 project and removes insurance risk by producing a reserve satellite. Freshfields, led by partner Nick Bliss, acted for defence contractor EADS and subsidiary Paradigm. Allen & Overy advised Citigroup and Goldman Sachs as joint lead managers, as well as Dexia as co-lead manager. The A&O team was jointly led by securitization partner David Krischer and project finance partner David Lee. Lovells acted for contractor EADS Astrium on the deal and Burges Salmon represented the MoD.

Espirito Santo Financial Group completed a Lehman Brothers-managed £500 million ($880 million) debt security issue. Linklaters, led by partner Keith Thompson, acted for Lehman on the fixed-rate note issue with warrants. The deal represents the first listing of notes with warrants since the implementation of the Prospectus Directive and the first issue of bonds with warrants by a European issuer since 2001. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer represented Espirito Santo Financial Group on the deal.

A recent decision by the High Court of England and Wales has further strengthened the position of creditors seeking to recover moneys owed by defaulting sovereign debtors. In Kensington International Limited v Republic of the Congo [2005] EWHC 2684 (Comm), the Court held that private creditors of the Republic of Congo could enforce their judgments in England against assets of numerous entities that it held to be emanations of the Congolese state.

Recent amendments to the Personal Income Tax Law of the Republic of Slovenia introduce a number of changes with respect to calculating different categories of income, which are taxed differently depending on their source and origin. Accordingly, income derived from dividends, interest and capital gains is no longer aggregated to other sources of income and then taxed at a progressive rate ranging from 16% to 50%, but rather is computed separately from other sources of income and taxed at a flat rate. This change will lower the taxable income of individuals.

In December 2005, the Serbian parliament passed the new Law on Banks, introducing numerous changes in the regulatory framework of the Serbian banking sector. Although it has officially come into force, the Law will start to apply in two phases – the first set of its provisions will apply as of July 1 2006, while the rest of the Law will start to apply on October 1 2006. Meanwhile, the old law, which dates back to 1993, will continue to apply.

Hong Kong's first real estate investment trust backed by Chinese assets required tough negotiations over foreign exchange, tax, corporate and land title issues. By Raymond Li and Vivian Lam