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Argentina's most heavily populated region, Buenos Aires, opened an offer to restructure more than $3 billion in debt. The offer was launched last month and is due to expire December 16 and close in early 2006. Argentina's federal government defaulted on more than $100 billion in debt in 2001 and the country's provincial governments followed suit. The federal government closed its groundbreaking exchange offer in June this year, and the Buenos Aires provincial government is now attempting to restructure its own debts. Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, which advises the national government, is also acting for the Buenos Aires government. Roger Thomas and Carmen Corrales are the firm's lead partners on the exchange, but lawyers from Cleary's offices in Rome, Frankfurt, Paris, London, Brussels and Moscow are also involved. Shearman & Sterling is advising Citigroup Global Markets, the global coordinator of the swap, with Antonia Stolper as lead partner.

After years of planning, the UK has launched a comprehensive update of its company laws to cut red tape, limit auditor liability and increase shareholder powers. By Vanessa Knapp

Hong Kong's accountants are following their US counterparts' attempts to withdraw from due diligence in the offering process. This is putting investor protection at risk, writes John Moore

CSFB acted as sole bookrunner and global coordinator on the Socialist Republic of Vietnam's inaugural sovereign bond issue. The global offering consisted of $700 million in unsecured fixed-rate notes due 2016. Shearman & Sterling, led by Matthew Bersani in Hong Kong, was retained by CSFB as US counsel. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer acted as US counsel to the issuer with Joe Sevack leading the team. Vietnamese legal advisers included Phillips Fox acting for CSFB and the Ministry of Justice on the issuer's side.

Calyon took on the roles of arranger, security trustee, agent and account bank on a $2 billion, seven-year secured financing for Sonangol, Angola's oil and gas company. The deal marked Sonangol's first non-Export Credit Agency-supported facility to extend beyond five years. Philip Badge led the Linklaters team advising Calyon, with Global Law Office providing the PRC law advice. Calyon was also advised by Fernando Oliveira and Manuela Cueha as to Angolan law. Li & Partners acted as Hong Kong counsel to Sonangol.

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.

France has amended its insolvency laws to create a Chapter 11-style process for troubled companies, but the new regime suffers from inflexibility and ambiguity. By Eric Cafritz and James Gillespie

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

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.

The main legislation in Tanzania dealing with corporate governance is the Companies Act, Cap 212 (the CA) and the Capital Markets and Securities Act 1994.