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China Construction Bank became the first of the big four state-owned Chinese banks to successfully list overseas. Besides being the largest ever in Hong Kong, the $8 billion initial public offering (IPO) was at the time the largest in the world for four years. Herbert Smith acted for the issuer on Hong Kong law and Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom acted as US counsel. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, led by China securities head Teresa Ko, advised joint bookrunners Morgan Stanley, China International Capital Corporation (CICC) and CSFB as well as joint sponsors CICC, Morgan Stanley and CCB International Capital. The joint sponsors and underwriters were also advised by Davis Polk Wardwell on US law and Haiwen & Partners on PRC law. Commerce & Finance Law Offices provided PRC legal advice to the issuer.

Protectionist business interests risk derailing Japan's merger reforms to allow foreign companies to make non-hostile acquisitions in the country. M&A adviser Nicholas Benes argues that meaningful change is essential if Japan is to raise its woeful levels of foreign investment

PRC companies' acquisition campaigns share some generic features - some of these features have facilitated, while others have militated against, offshore acquisitions. Jeremy Xiao and Frank Sun explain

Sometimes innovation turns out to have unexpected side effects. Competitive initial public offerings (IPOs) were designed to prevent repricing by encouraging banks to quote more accurate price ranges before receiving bookrunner positions. But now they are under regulatory scrutiny amid concerns that they over-inflate prices and risk compromising research.

Ken Willman, Goldman Sachs Kenneth Willman, general counsel of Goldman Sachs (Asia), used the opening address at IFLR's Asia Capital Markets Forum last month to call for greater liberalization of the region's securities markets.

The UK Financial Services Authority has put 25 hedge funds under daily scrutiny, becoming the most recent in a line of regulators to focus attention on the sector. James Rice reports

Italy's parliament is discussing a law to boost investor protection. But the market needs tougher internal corporate controls more than it needs extra laws, says ex-Parmalat counsel Bruno Cova. By Daniel Andrews

Ben Maiden reports on the continuing debate over the NYSE's regulatory arm

Paul Hastings promoted real-estate specialist Mark Brooks to of counsel in the firm's Hong Kong office. Brooks, a New York qualified lawyer, is part of a team of over 20 real estate lawyers in Asia. He has practised in Tokyo, representing foreign-backed lenders and borrowers in connection with securitized financings of commercial projects.

David Wilson, OSC David Brown, Davies Ward David Wilson took office as the new head of the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC), the most influential financial regulator in Canada. Wilson began work on November 1 at the start of a five-year term. Before chairing the OSC, Wilson was vice chairman of the Bank of Nova Scotia and chairman and chief executive of Scotia Capital. He took over from David Brown, who had led the OSC since 1998. Brown rejoined Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg this month as counsel, having been a senior partner with the firm before moving to the OSC. His experience as a lawyer includes corporate finance, restructurings and mergers and acquisitions. During his time at the OSC, Brown took a leading role in pushing for greater uniformity of securities rules and for the creation of a national regulator to replace the 13 existing provincial and territorial authorities.