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The replacement of a 70-year old piece of energy regulation should remove obstacles for investors wanting to buy into the US utilities market. By David Bloom and Samantha Hampshire

Pressure is growing on investment banks to ensure the accuracy of financial disclosure in securities offerings, but independent accountants are trying to cut back their involvement in the offering process. Is a new financial disclosure crisis looming? If so, regulators must intervene to protect investors. By Richard Baumann

Blake Cassels & Graydon and Stikeman Elliott were the lead counsel on US pipeline operator Kinder Morgan's bid to buy Vancouver-based Terasen. The acquisition of Terasen, also a pipeline operator, will create a company with a combined 40,000 miles of natural gas and petroleum pipelines and more than a million gas distribution customers. Including debt, the deal is valued at around $5.6 billion. Blake Cassels advised Kinder Morgan on the deal. Mungo Hardwicke-Brown in Calgary led the team, which also included Brock Gibson and Peter Kalbfleisch. Stikeman Elliott was special counsel to Terasen through Vancouver partners Jonathan Drance, John Anderson and Neville McClure. Bracewell & Giuliani was US counsel to Kinder Morgan. Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison advised Terasen on US law.

Icsid arbitration is an underused avenue for resolving sovereign bond disputes, yet it offers advantages that could afford better protection to investors. Peter Griffin and Ania Farren explain why

Robert Ebe and Brett Waxdeck explain how US courts became comfortable with non-US arbitration decisions

A pilot scheme in China attempts to increase liquidity in China's equity markets by making more shares tradeable, but faces the challenge of compensating domestic investors without displeasing international investors. By Filip Moerman and Niping Wu

Romania's new Property Law created much controversy in the country, but in fact it will not change many of the substantive laws and procedural rules that have governed the Romanian real estate system. The Property Law (Law 247/2005 regarding reform in the property and justice fields and other ancillary measures), adopted on July 22 2005, has not touched the core of the real property system, but has instead lessened various hurdles faced by investors in Romania and made the judicial process easier for individuals seeking restitution of their properties. Changes have been made to the rules governing restitution of real estate and a property fund has been created that will act as an economic substitute in cases where restitution in kind is not practicable.

Over the last six months there have been a number of positive developments in the Dutch market for public-private partnerships (PPP) projects. Although public-private partnerships have been used in the Netherlands for a few years, so far the number of projects has been limited. Despite a positive attitude and appetite for this type of projects in the market, central government was treading carefully. In recent years it has carried out a number of pilot projects to establish whether PPPs were a possibility for projects in the Netherlands. These included the first PPP project for schools (which closed at the end of 2004) and a PPP project for the offices of the Ministry of Finance (the consultation phase is complete and the BAFO negotiations are about to start).

Diogo Ortigão Ramos and António Rocha Mendes of Gonçalves Pereira, Castelo Branco & Associados highlight the advantages of maintaining the acquisition vehicle and the target as separate entities after a leveraged acquisition

The securitization of more diverse asset classes is yet to become reality in Portugal, despite changes in the law that make new types of deals possible. By Paula Gomes Freire, André Figueiredo and Pedro Cassiano Santos of Vieira de Almeida