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It is commonplace to find credit information bureaus in Europe, but it is a recent phenomenon (for obvious reasons) in emerging markets. The Bank of Tanzania has only recently decided to follow the example of its neighbour, Kenya, and open discussions with its advisers to put a legal and regulatory framework in place for credit information sharing in Tanzania. In 2001, legislation came into force that enabled the Minister for Finance to make regulations whereby the Central Bank of Kenya and any other institutions licensed under the Banking Act could exchange information on their respective customers. These regulations were formalized in 2004.

The government of Serbia has recently proposed a new Takeover Act to more effectively regulate takeovers. The proposed Takeover Act, which is modelled on the EC Takeover Directive (Directive 2004/25/EC), incorporates the main principles of the Directive – the equivalent treatment of all shareholders, the provision of information so that shareholders can make informed decisions, the duty of management to act in the interests of the target as a whole, the prevention of false markets and market distortion, the duty of a bidder to secure funding before making an offer, and requiring the takeover to be carried out quickly to prevent damaging the target's business. The Takeover Law has been presented to the parliament and should be enacted by the end of 2005.

There is no mutual fund industry in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). This is partly a result of the underdeveloped economy, but the current legislative framework addresses itself to financial products that the BiH economy is not yet ready to support. It could be that generalization of the legislation could assist in developing the market for personal investment products.

On August 26 2005, the Ministry of Finance & Economy of Korea (Mofe) announced its tax-reform proposals including anti-tax-haven rules. If approved by the National Assembly later this year, the proposed changes are expected to take effect in January 2006.

The European Commission is considering imposing more comprehensive price disclosure on the bond markets. Michael Evans assesses the UK regulator's attempt to set the agenda for the debate

Eugene Lee, Latham & Watkins Eugene Lee joined the Hong Kong office of Latham & Watkins as of counsel in the corporate department. He is a capital markets and M&A specialist with experience in representing investment banks in securities offerings. Lee joins from Simpson Thatcher & Bartlett in Hong Kong, along with corporate associate Benjamin Su.

Clipper Group was advised by Lawrence Graham on its placing and admission to AIM, the London market for growth stocks. The wind turbine developer has an initial market capitalization of £180 million, taking it into the new FTSE AIM 50 index. The company raised £75 million. Lehman Brothers was nominated adviser to the float; their legal advisers were Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. US firm Reicker Pfau Pyle & McRoy provided US legal advice to Clipper.

Airline turns to structured finance Citibank acted as arrangers on a $100 million conduit financing for Asiana Airlines. The transaction represents the first European export credit agency-supported transaction for Asiana. Allen & Overy advised Citibank and the European credit agencies, with partner Mario Jacovides leading the London team and William Ho running the transaction in Hong Kong. Mallesons Stephen Jaques acted for the lease equity provider, Allco Finance. Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy acted for Asiana Airlines.

Debevoise & Plimpton and Simpson Thacher & Bartlett were the lead advisers on one of the largest leveraged buyouts (LBOs) of the last 15 years. The Ford Motor Company has agreed to sell car rental company Hertz, a wholly-owned subsidiary, to a group of private equity firms for $15 billion, including almost $9 billion in debt. Debevoise & Plimpton advised the consortium, which comprised the Carlyle Group, Clayton Dubilier & Rice and Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity. Franci Blassberg and David Brittenham led the Debevoise team. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett represented Ford and Hertz on the deal through a team including mergers and acquisitions partners David Sorkin, Peter Malloy and Sean Rodgers. Simpson Thacher had already been mandated to advise the company on a planned IPO. Weil Gotshal & Manges was retained by the consortium's financial advisers Deutsche Bank, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch. The LBO will involve high-yield and bridge financing, plus a large new asset-backed securities (ABS) programme. Corey Chivers and Rod Miller are Weil Gotshal's corporate finance partners on the deal, Frank Nocco and Jason Smith will advise on ABS issues.

Real rights to real property In Albania, a loan agreement is usually associated with a securing charge agreement on collateral. In most cases, the securing charge is a mortgage on real property owned by the debtor. In practice, the parties usually agree in the loan agreement to register a mortgage deed with the real estate register as a condition precedent to the loan agreement taking effect. So the loan agreement usually becomes effective and the loan will be disbursed in favour of the purchaser at the moment the mortgage agreement is registered with the real estate register.