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An Australian court has ruled that the experts consulted to provide quotations for the calculation of a close-out amount under an Isda Master Agreement should have used a valuation method radically different from the one commonly accepted. The decision has implications for the valuation of Isda-based derivatives, says Andrew Fernbach of Mallesons Stephen Jaques

A new Act has significantly amended Ukraine's corporate profit tax regime, effectively decreasing the overall tax burden and eliminating many ambiguities thought responsible for conflicts with tax authorities (Act of Ukraine No 349-IV, effective January 1 2003). The main effects of the new Act are as follows:

Unlike the legislation in most other European jurisdictions, the Swedish Companies Act or any other similar piece of Swedish legislation does not specifically address public offers and other forms of corporate takeovers. Even though the regulation on takeovers in Sweden underlies statutory law, the Swedish securities market is highly influenced by self-regulatory recommendations. The main source of information regarding takeovers is the Recommendation concerning Public Offers for the Acquisition of Shares issued by the Swedish Industry and Commerce Stock Exchange Committee (NBK). Stock market companies that are listed on the Stockholm Exchange are obliged to enter into a listing agreement with the Stockholm Exchange, of which a number of NBK-recommendations are made part. Consequently, non-listed companies are not contractually bound by the recommendations. Failure to comply with the requirements in the takeover regulation would result in bad feeling and criticism from the Swedish securities Council (Sw. Aktiemarknadsnämnden) and Swedish media and, in the case of a listed company, the Stockholm Exchange might decide to de-list the company's shares from the exchange.

The EU is set to announce new legislation on disclosure, electronic voting rights and directors' salaries next month but has no plans to draw up a comprehensive corporate governance code for companies in EU's member states.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer won eight awards, including IFLR European Law Firm of the Year, at International Financial Law Review's awards dinner last night. The UK firm clinched the overall award for its work in capital markets, M&A, project finance and restructuring during 2002.

The Cayman Islands has always been responsive to the needs of the international financial community in introducing expedient legislation. Last year saw the creation of the segregated portfolio company (SPC) by way of amendment to the Companies Law of the Cayman Islands, and now revisions in 2003 will make it a more attractive corporate vehicle for mutual funds and multi-issuer structured finance vehicles. Provisions that have caused difficulties in obtaining a rating for structured finance deals will be removed and a mechanism introduced to enable any existing Cayman Islands company to convert into an SPC. The key points are described below.

Rules requiring companies to report Gaap equivalents to their non-Gaap numbers could bury useful information among confusing detail and discourage management from providing certain data in SEC filings. It may be investors who suffer, says David Bernstein, of Clifford Chance, New York

Proposals in Japan to allow the use of foreign company shares in stock-for-stock deals with domestic entities are likely to fail because the government will not remove prohibitive tax burdens. Philip Quirk, head of legal at Morgan Stanley in Japan, reviews the developments

The Swiss Federal Banking Commission (SFBC) has issued an Ordinance concerning the Prevention of Money Laundering (December 18 2002). The Ordinance introduces stricter due diligence obligations in the case of higher risk business relationships. But in all other business relationships the standard identification procedure still prevails as contained in the revised Due Diligence Agreement (CDB 03) published by the Swiss Bankers Association on January 17 2003 (see www.swissbanking.org). The content of the Ordinance is similar to its draft version, released last summer and already summarized in IFLR (November 2002, Vol. XXI 11, p63). This report pinpoints three of the most significant changes between the draft and the final version and briefly presents the implementation schedule financial intermediaries must comply with.

A recent computer virus attack on servers that direct traffic on the internet hit Korea especially hard. One reason is that Korea is one of the countries in the world that uses the internet the most, with 70% of the population plugged into the web. In the wake of the attack that crippled internet access over one weekend, a Korean civic group is preparing to file a lawsuit. This may be a good time for many IT-related companies to take a close look at their rights and obligations under the relevant Korean statutes.