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The Finnish prospectus rules are being amended to implement the EU Prospectus Directive, which regulates the publishing of prospectuses when securities are offered to the public or admitted to trading. The Finnish Ministry of Finance has appointed a working group to prepare a proposal for a government Bill to implement the Prospectus Directive and amend the Finnish provisions on liability for the contents of a prospectus. The deadline for implementation as set out in the Directive is July 1 2005.

Robert Mullen, Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy advised on one of the most high-profile initial public offerings (IPOs) of the year - the $207 million flotation of International Securities Exchange (ISE) on the New York Stock Exchange. The deal was the first time a US options exchange listed on a stock market and also saw the biggest first-day climb in share price of any IPO since 2001. Milbank Tweed advised ISE on the deal, having worked with the exchange since its inception in 1999. Robert Mullen and James Ball were the firm's lead partners. Cleary Gottlieb acted for the underwriters, Bear Stearns and Morgan Stanley, through partners Leslie Silverman and Sung Kang.

EU stock exchanges are taking action to stop issuers deserting them over cost hikes caused by the incoming Prospectus Directive. Michael Evans reports

Terri Mottershead, Lex Mundi Charles Doyle, Clifford Chance Lex Mundi appointed Terri Mottershead to the new post of director of professional development. Mottershead will develop best practice documentation, advise on training initiatives and set writing standards for Lex Mundi's member firms. Mottershead was director of training at Hong Kong law firm Johnson Stokes & Master.

Ben Maiden reports on how lawsuits have failed to derail the Argentina debt exchange

Andrew Carmichael (Linklaters), Leonard Birmingham (Harneys),

The recent publication of the Implementing Regulations (Official Gazette (Umm Al-Qura) edition 4021) to the Capital Market Regulations (Royal Decree M/30, 2/6/1424H), has given rise to some uncertainty for prospective issuers in an increasingly active IPO market in the Kingdom.

The requirement to apply international financial reporting standards (IFRS) for any accounting period commencing on or after January 1 2005 has raised questions relating to whether the use of IFRS could result in accounting profits (and as a result taxable profits) appearing in the accounts of Irish structured finance special purpose vehicles (otherwise known as Section 110 Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 companies) where previously no such profits would have arisen.

The Securities and Exchange Law of Korea requires any investor (together with any special related persons) who acquires 5% or more of total outstanding shares in a listed company (or who changes their share ownership by 1% or more thereafter) to file a report to the Financial Supervisory Commission of Korea and the Korea Exchange within five days of the relevant transaction. This filing requirement is referred to as the 5% rule, which helps to promote transparency in the market and prevent hostile takeovers. Any investor failing to comply with the 5% rule can be restricted from exercising their voting rights and ordered to sell the acquired shares.

For many observers, Argentina's debt restructuring has promised much and delivered little in terms of offering new solutions to future crises. Despite this, there are important lessons to be learned from the world's biggest sovereign exchange.