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Gaz de France IPO largest this year The part privatization of Gaz de France (GdF) represents the world's largest initial public offering (IPO) so far this year. France's stake in GdF will diminish to 79.45% on completion of the IPO. The deal values GdF at €23 billion, based on proceeds of €2 billion. Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton advised Gaz de France and Gide Loyrette Nouel represented the French State. Linklaters advised the underwriters and global coordinators.

Nicholas Moussas of Moussas & Tsibris says criminal proceedings can be just as effective as civil action when protecting industrial property rights in Greece

John White and Andrew Pitts take a first look at the SEC's revised securities offering rules and some of the comments that might have influenced the changes

The amendments to the Foreign Exchange Transaction Regulation of Korea (FETR) took effect as of July 1 2005.

The implementation of a free foreign exchange system in Indonesia has accelerated the expansion and integration of the Indonesian financial market into the world's financial markets. As a result, the growth in rupiah transactions between banks and foreign citizens and foreign legal entities has led to instability in domestic monetary conditions, putting pressure on the rupiah exchange rate. This has recently been exacerbated by state oil firm Pertamina buying large amounts of dollars to counteract increasing oil prices.

The central challenge of China's corporations is to deliver results that will satisfy an ownership base that is increasingly comprised of institutional investors. Unlike most of the OECD, China has to reconcile from the outset the twin demands of corporate managerial risk-taking, which is the essence of robust economic growth, and institutional investor prudence, the main pillar of which is liquidity of investment (at least in the same currency).

Portugal has relied primarily on the direct effect of the Prospectus Directive implementation regulation but has also changed regulatory

On June 24 2005, the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) was converted into a public limited company. Two royal decrees were published:

Davis Polk & Wardwell hired its first non-US law partner. The firm hired French corporate lawyer Arnaud Peres from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in Paris. Said John Ettinger, managing partner of Davis Polk: "France is a key market for us. Arnaud's excellent legal skills, market reputation and client service philosophy perfectly match our goals and practice and will allow us to take advantage of the significant business opportunities we see in the French market. In the near future, we anticipate building out our Paris team with additional French partners and associates." The firm's strategy is usually to practice only US law while partnering with the best independent firms for local law advice. But the firm has made an exception in Paris to answer the needs of French clients, who apparently want their law firms to practice more than just US law.

The first EU equity deals complying with the Prospectus Directive have allayed fears that the new rules would complicate share offerings. By James Rice