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Malaysia has set a clear path for how it wishes to build and improve its financial industry and its capital markets. The country's 300-page Capital Markets Masterplan lays out improvements and recommendations some of which have been achieved already, others of which require further attention. In key areas such as Islamic finance, the government has entered the market as an issuer to aid progress. Meanwhile, in mergers and acquisitions, as in many other areas of financial and corporate activity, Malaysian authorities are lowering barriers to foreign investors. The articles on the following pages examine some of these issues in detail.

The Real Estate Securitization Law creates a solid base for Taiwan’s nascent Reits market. Abe Tien-Shiang Sung and Sherry Shiou-Ling Lin of Lee and Li explain how the legislation works

Up to now, quasi-Reits have operated in China but not without limitations. New legislation should lift some of the restrictions holding the market back. By David Yu and Richard Nie of Llinks Law Office

France has introduced a tax regime that will allow the country's new non-listed real estate collective investment schemes to flourish. By Frédéric Nouel of Gide Loyrette Nouel

International companies are needlessly applying for Austrian merger clearance, just to be on the safe side. Dr Ferdinand Graf of Graf, Maxl & Pitkowitz explains

Austria has overhauled its tax laws to make the country more appealing to foreign investors. Werner Minihold of Saxinger Chalupsky Weber & Partner outlines the changes

The Asia Pacific region has an alternative venue for offshore investment - the Labuan IOFC. Ming Sun Yoon of Cheang & Ariff and Raymond WB Wong of Equity Trust outline what this relatively new financial centre has to offer

Satoshi Nakamura outlines some of the recent trends in Japanese convertibles and exchangeables

Margaret Boswell and Grigory Marinichev of Gide Loyrette Nouel explain the slow progress of securitization in Russia and why Russian companies prefer to launch their securitization programmes overseas

Ayman H Abdel-Khaleq of Vinson & Elkins LLP highlights legal considerations pertinent to offering Islamic investment products in the EU and the US