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Although mergers or changes of corporate form have been permitted under Swiss law in individual cases, there have been no provisions available governing such transactions in general. Because there is a clear need for businesses to change their corporate form, either as a consequence of the company's growth or to meet the requirements of the capital markets, Switzerland's Federal Council entrusted a group of experts in 1999 to draft a law on the matter, which will come into force soon.

An uncertainty about the enforceability of arbitration clauses in state contracts was finally settled with the publication on April 29 2002 of the new Arbitration Act, BE 2545 (2002). The effective date of this Act was April 30 2002.

By Rob Mannix and Thomas Williams

Philip Gilligan of Lovells Hong Kong and Joe Bannister in London compare the challenges of recovering assets in China with the approach taken by the English courts

Twenty years ago IFLR ran a story on the Argentine crisis. Now another rumbles on. Stephen Hoare speaks to some of the financial markets’ leading personalities about the people, deals and regulations that have shaped our world in between

The European Commission has agreed a formula on state aid for Landesbanks that should protect investors from a bank default. But the rules leave them at the mercy of guarantors. Robin Griffith and Michail Papadakis of Clifford Chance report

Linklaters and Herbert Smith are advising on the UK's largest, most complex restructuring in the utility sector. The restructuring of Anglian Water Group (AWG) will ringfence £1.9 billion ($2.75 billion) of existing debt and raise a further £1.6 billion in new debt.

Davis Polk and Hengeler advise banks on Rentenbank offering Davis Polk & Wardwell and Hengeler Mueller have advised Merrill Lynch, Pierce Fenner & Smith, BNP Paribas Securities and UBS as lead managers of a $1.25 billion offering of 4.875% notes by Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank due 2007.

Bharti Tele-Ventures has succesfully completed its IPO, making it the first Indian mobile phone company to list publicly. Jones Day and Pathak & Associates, its Indian affiliate, advised the issuer. Shearman & Sterling and Little & Co advised the Indian affiliates of JPMorgan and Merrill Lynch, the book-running lead managers. The deal was postponed on several occasions thanks to market conditions in the US. The company originally announced its intention to list both in India and in the US, but scaled back its plans. Now, two years after starting work, Bharti has seized a window of opporunity and listed on the Delhi, Mumbai and National stock exchanges, making it one of India's top-10 listed companies in terms of market capitalization. The company has ruled out an issue of American depository receipts for the time being.

To lose one managing partner may be regarded as a misfortune. But Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer's loss of two might seem to some like carelessness. To others, with a more sensible frame of mind, it may appear as a coincidence. In response to media reports in the UK Freshfields is keen to dismiss talk of a management shake-up within its Asian network after the announcement that the managing partners of two of its biggest offices will soon be stepping down. Charles Stevens, the present managing partner of the Tokyo office, plans to retire in the autumn after five years with Freshfields and, in a separate move, Roger Dyer will be replaced in Singapore by David Simpson.