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The long-awaited new Bankruptcy Act was approved by the Finnish parliament on February 4 2004 and is expected to become effective over the next six months. The present Bankruptcy Act dates back to 1868 and has become outdated and - because of several partial amendments - difficult to understand. The purpose of the new Act is to enact a regulatory framework that is clear and foreseeable, enabling efficient and transparent bankruptcy proceedings.

The trust has always been regarded as one of the best succession vehicles, but using a trust to cater for the succession of shares in companies has historically been impeded by a rule of English trust law that is designed to help preserve the value of trust investments. This rule, which is known as the prudent-man-of-business rule, has traditionally made the trust an unattractive vehicle to hold assets that settlors intend trustees to retain. Another aspect of the rule effectively requires trustees to monitor and intervene in the affairs of underlying companies. This also creates difficulties both from the settlor's standpoint and from that of the trustees.

IFLR is pleased to announce the nominated deals and law firms for its annual awards, reflecting legal innovation across all areas of corporate finance. Winners will be announced at our ceremony at The Ritz-Carlton, Hong Kong, on March 11.

The UK's Ministry of Defence (MoD) has broken new ground with a private finance initiative (PFI) for one of its garrisons.

Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan: a deal three years in the making The financing of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, one of the largest pipeline projects in history, has closed after years of controversy.

Hong Kong's debut Flexibond issue by BOC International shows how far the market for retail structured notes has come despite hazy securities laws. By Andrew Malcolm and Matthew Budden

Linklaters and Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz are advising French pharmaceutical company Sanofi-Synthelabo on its €46.2 billion ($58.9 billion) bid for rival drugmaker Aventis in one of Europe's largest ever hostile bids.

Linklaters has won the mandate for one of Hungary's first public-private partnership (PPP) projects financed without some form of guarantee.

Despite the rejection by a European Parliament committee last week of quarterly reporting for EU companies, new member states to be elected in May are expected to prefer a periodic disclosure regime.

To book tables, contact Dan Rabey on +44 (0) 207 779 8142 or email drabey@euromoneyplc.com