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Germany's national railway operator, Deutsche Bahn, concluded a whirlwind month of negotiations at the beginning of July to acquire 65% of Stinnes, the logistics and freight company, from E.ON, the energy group, for €2.5 billion ($2.5 billion). The transaction is one of the largest acquisitions to close since the German Takeover Act was introduced in January this year and its legal structure points a way forward for future acquisitions under the new laws.

German lawyers have given a lukewarm response to a code of practice for companies listing on the Frankfurt stock market. The Going Public Principles developed by Deutsche Börse and the banking and legal members of its Primary Markets Advisory Committee are designed to strengthen the role of the prospectus as the central information medium for deals and are the result of several months of market consultation.

A Bill that introduces new standards for the corporate governance of companies with shares listed on the Athens Stock Exchange was recently approved by the Greek parliament and following Government Gazette registration the new law has now come into force (as law No 3016/2002). These new corporate governance rules are a follow-up to a Code of Conduct for listed companies issued by a decision of the Capital Market Commission in late 2000.

Lawyers at Allen & Overy were tight-lipped after the launch of the first sovereign Eurobond by the Republic of Iran since the country's Islamic revolution in 1979. Together with Iranian firm Attieh, the UK firm's international debt and equity specialist Roger Wedderburn-Day advised book runners Commerzbank Securities and BNP Paribas on the €500 million ($506 million) deal launched on July 10. The Central Bank of Iran is not using outside counsel.

Saudi Arabia's Supreme Economic Council (SEC), chaired by Crown Prince Abdullah, recently approved a privatization strategy outlining those sectors of the economy to be partially or wholly privatized. The targeted sectors include telecommunications, power generation, desalination, railways, hospitals, and the postal service.

The Mexican Securities Law (Ley del Mercado de Valores) allows government entities to issue debt-denominated securities known as Certificados Bursátiles. Although the Mexican federal government has in the past issued debt securities, this mechanism has certainly not been a financing option for state governments or for municipalities. So far there has only been two issuances of Certificados Bursátiles of this kind registered with the Mexican Stock Exchange. One was made by the state government of Morelos for about $21 million, and the second by the city of Aguascalientes for about $9 million. Recently, Fitch Ratings has given the city of San Pedro Garza García an AAA rating for the issuance of Certificados Bursátiles up to $20 million. It is expected that these securities will be priced and placed this summer and, if successful, will become the third issuance of these kind of debt instruments in the Mexican securities market.

The Colombian Superintendency of Securities has recently defined new illegal, non-authorized and insecure practices in relation to publicly-traded companies, with the purpose of protecting the rights of minority shareholders, and of guaranteeing transparent decisions at general shareholders meetings (Resolution 0116, February 27 2002).

Recent amendments to the Audit Special Exceptions Law, a law relating to the Commercial Code, provide an alternative to Japan's existing corporate governance structure. The new governance structure, scheduled to take effect in April 2003, is not mandatory and only applies to companies categorized as "larger companies" which satisfy certain criteria.

With a view to bringing the regulatory regime of Hong Kong, which is fundamentally disclosure-based, more in line with its international counterparts and to assure the furtherance of investors' protection, the Securities and Futures Commission of Hong Kong (SFC) unveiled the Consultation Paper on the Securities and Futures (Stock Market) Rules in May 2002.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand Bill, a new Bill aimed at strengthening the Reserve Bank of New Zealand's (New Zealand's Central Bank) powers of supervision and regulation of registered banks to bring them into line with international best practice was introduced on April 23 2002. The Reserve Bank first indicated that it was going to propose significant changes to its governing legislation in October 2000. This governing legislation is the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act 1989, which sets out the functions and powers of the Reserve Bank and provides for a system of regulation and supervision of banks. The new Bill was introduced following consultation on the proposed amendments with interested parties and will have significant implications for both domestic and foreign-owned banks that do business in New Zealand.