Search results for

Austria has always had closer ties with eastern Europe than many of its fellow EU members. But these links are forcing Austria’s law firms to make a difficult choice between east and west. Michael Evans reports

Last year’s legal reforms promised great things for the German market. Thomas Williams reports from Frankfurt where lawyers are now desperate for a long-expected recovery

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer worked opposite Clifford Chance on the £950 million ($1.4 billion) initial public offering of bookmaker William Hill which is likely to be one of the biggest UK offerings of the year. Freshfields won the mandate to act for William Hill after advising the issuer's previous owners, Nomura, on its attempt to float the company in 1999.

Recent SEC actions show it is not just the energy industry that is coming under the Commission’s fire for manipulating earnings reports. Neil Golden of Chadbourne & Parke, Washington DC, explains why technical compliance with GAAP may no longer be enough

Sidley Austin Brown & Wood and Allen & Overy have acted on a groundbreaking mortgage securitization for HBOS, which uses a master trust structure that is likely to generate repeat business for both law firms. The £3.5 billion ($5.3 billion) deal – Europe's largest mortgage securitization – is not the first to use a master trust structure to sell a UK deal into the US, but it is the first by HBOS and the choice of legal advisers sets a template for future deals.

Uría & Menéndez and former Andersen Legal firm J&A Garrigues are advising on Spain's first initial public offering (IPO) in more than a year, the ¤1.8 billion ($1.76 billion) flotation of Enagas. The deal is the first Spanish IPO since airline Iberia was floated in March 2001. Garrigues is advising Enagas and its parent company Gas Natural, while Uría is advising joint coordinators Goldman Sachs and Banco Santander Central Hispano (BSCH).

Norton Rose has advised Deutsche Bank for the third time in recent months on structuring a securitization deal from Portugal – this time helping develop the country's mortgage market. Banco Nacional de Crédito Imobiliário (BNC) has become the second originator of a residential mortgage-backed securities transaction in Portugal, proving that the Magellan securitization for Banco Comercial Portugues in December was not just a one-off.

"Fortis and JPMorgan have jointly developed a new equity-linked bond structure that enabled the Dutch issuer to raise €1.25 billion of tax deductible finance without immediate earnings-per-share dilution."

Freehills has ended its alliance in Singapore with Alban Tay Mahtani & de Silva. The two firms entered into a formal law alliance in September 2000, but had been closely affiliated for two years before that. Freehills said in a statement: "The two firms have benefited from the opportunity and the relationship, but agree the formal alliance is not necessary for each to pursue its goals." The termination of the alliance does not mean an end to the relationship between the firms, says a lawyer at Alban Tay. "We are still working with Freehills," he said.

The Central Bank of Colombia has replaced the previous External Regulatory Circulars (DCIN-36 of July 19 2001, DCIN-05 of January 10 2002, and DCIN-10 of February 15 2002) with a new External Regulatory Circular: DCIN-23 of May 9 2002. This will come into force on June 4 2002. The principal changes introduced by the new Circular are the following: