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A set of agreements between Switzerland and the EU will have a positive effect for those doing business in the country. Michael Nordin, Madeleine Simonek, Pietro Sansonetti and Joëlle Zumoffen Fruttero of Schellenberg Wittmer explain

Dale Gabbert looks back over the history of Ucits legislation and argues for a more liberal approach when the European Commission carries out its promised review of the law later this year

The ownership restrictions imposed on citizens of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries (GCC) other than Saudi Arabia (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and United Arab Emirates) with respect to the shares of Saudi Arabian public joint-stock companies are to be removed. An April 5 article in the Arab News stated that a Cabinet meeting of the Council of Ministers approved the change. The new Capital Markets Authority (CMA) will receive instructions to implement the change, in coordination with other government authorities.

The Cayman Islands will be implementing measures equivalent to the EUSD (the EU Savings Directive) by way of bilateral agreements with each of the EU member states. Legislation implementing the provisions contained in the model agreement will be put into place for July 1 2005, which is the Directive's implementation date. The Cayman legislation requires a report to be made on interest payments if certain tests are met.

The first quarter of 2005 saw two public tender offers with substantial transaction volumes in Austria: Siemens' offer for VA Tech had a total transaction volume of €955 million and Österreichische Volksbanken-AG (ÖVAG)'s offer for Investkredit Bank AG had a total transaction volume of €750 million. In Siemens/VA Tech, a new offer condition was introduced during the offer term against a simultaneous waiver of other conditions and in ÖVAG/ Investkredit a voluntary starting offer was converted into a mandatory offer.

Confusion over what constitutes a public offering could force some companies to comply with burdensome EU rules

Cablecom's recent refinancing extended light covenant packages to bank debt, a first for the European market. By Michael Evans

Ko-Yung Tung joined Morrison & Foerster's New York office as a senior counsellor. Tung is former general counsel and vice-president of the World Bank, and former chair of the global practice group and member of the management committee at O'Melveny & Myers. Tung was approached to join Morrison & Foerster after leaving O'Melveny at the end of March. He was general counsel at the World Bank from 1999 to 2003. He has also served as secretary-general of the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes.

Kyung Taek Jung, Joon Park, Weon Jung Kim and Yon Kyun Oh of Kim & Chang round up legislative changes over the past year that affect investors in Korea

Former Clifford Chance lawyer Laura O'Neill joined the corporate department at SJ Berwin last month. O'Neill was one of the lead partners to advise Banco Santander on its acquisition of Abbey National. Her other clients include Volvo and Accenture. O'Neill joined Clifford Chance in 1996 and become a partner in 2002.