Search results for

The Australian Takeovers Panel recently declared a break fee to be unacceptable. The break fee was payable in shares, giving the offeror (Rexadis) the right to acquire a substantial interest in the target company (Ballarat Goldfields) if the shareholders rejected a proposal for Rexadis to buy assets of the company. The Rexadis proposal was one of three competing proposals for the future of Ballarat Goldfields. The Panel considered the break fee was likely to have a coercive effect on shareholders when considering the proposals. A rejection of the Rexadis proposal by shareholders could have diluted shareholdings. The Panel thought it was in the shareholders' best interests to be able to make an unfettered choice on the proposals.

In the wake of the Enron crisis, the Federal Banking Commission has toughened its stand on energy trading and energy traders. In particular, Swiss firms which intend to participate at the new European Energy Exchange (EEX) in Leipzig, may do so only if they have received a broker/dealer licence from the Federal Banking Commission.

When will China deliver on its promise as an industrial and financial centre of unprecedented size? Nick Ferguson talks to the lawyers hoping to profit from the country's reform

Brazil is talking tough despite the problems of nearby Argentina. Ben Maiden finds out why local lawyers are sure recent reforms mean their nation will not suffer the same difficulties

China has shown its willingness to open markets to competition. But the country's insolvency laws need updating if lawmakers want foreign investment to last. By Campbell Korff and Xinhong Liu of Clifford Chance, Hong Kong

By Thomas Williams

Europe's statistical body is the latest group to show its suspicion of structured finance, setting rules that treat sovereign securitizations differently from other types of state- guaranteed deals. Yannis Manuelides of Allen & Overy explains why Eurostat is wrong

In a month that saw the UK's FTSE 100 index fall to its lowest levels since 1997, Great Universal Stores' public sale of a 22.5% stake in clothing company Burberry was a welcome distraction for capital markets teams at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Linklaters.

New rules that open China's fund management and securities industries to foreign investment do not remove all barriers to overseas banks. Nicholas Howson and Lester Ross of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison report

Allen & Overy and Clifford Chance are reaping the rewards of one of the largest management buy-outs in Europe this year after senior executives at Irish real-estate company Green Property were successful in taking the company private last month. Green Property managing director Stephen Vernon made the bid through the Rodinheights consortium backed by Merrill Lynch International and Bank of Scotland. Rodinheights' €1 billion ($989 million) bid was announced on July 3 beating those of rival consortia like Deutsche Bank Real Estate Private Equity and Goldman Sachs & Co's Whitehall fund. Rodinheights is offering €9.80 for each of Green Property's shares and shareholders are expected to accept the offer this month.