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The Austrian Ministry of Justice has published a draft bill on financial collateral arrangements (Financial Collateral Act, www.justiz.gv.at/gesetzes/). Comments are to be submitted until June 30 2003. This is the first step to implement the rules set forth in the Financial Collateral Directive (Directive 2002/47/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of June 6 2002 on Financial Collateral Arrangements) into domestic Austrian law. It is planned that the Financial Collateral Act will enter into force on December 1 2003.

Securities regulation in Hong Kong is failing to meet the needs of international business. If it doesn’t change soon, investors may look to Singapore instead. By Andrew Crooke

Medco Energi's recent high yield bond deal combined a simultaneous new issue with an exchange offer and consent solicitation for the first time in Indonesia. By Tim Steinert of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Joan Janssen of Freshfields Drew & Napier

Reinsurance broker Benfield raised £157 million ($261 million) from its initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange in June, bringing welcome fee income to the advising firms equity practices.

Baker & McKenzie, Clifford Chance and Walder Wyss & Partner have advised on Switzerland's first-ever commercial mortgage-backed securitization (CMBS).

An agreement to create a Sino-foreign insurance joint venture with a single overseas investor will be an important test of China's investment laws.

Financing has closed on the SR125 toll road, a groundbreaking public-private project in California. The $635 million deal is a rare example of a privately funded toll road in the US and is one of the first to use European-style financing technology for such a project.

The Republic of Korea's recent $1 billion global note offering has set a new template for Asian debt deals by including collective action clauses (CACs).

A new report commissioned by UK regulator the Financial Services Authority (FSA) shows compliance costs have risen since the Authority took control 18 months ago and that using external lawyers to fulfil compliance requirements is inefficient.

In early March 2003, the president of Ukraine signed into law the long-awaited new Civil and Commercial Codes, passed by the Parliament of Ukraine on January 16 2003. The new Civil Code replaces the effective 1963 Civil Code of the Ukrainian SSR, while the commercial code is essentially a new concept for Ukrainian legislation. Both codes will come into effect on January 1 2004.