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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:

The Ontario Superior Court of Justice has released its judgment in a case involving the triggering provisions in change-of-control agreements between a company and its senior executives – commonly known as golden parachutes.

Allen & Overy, Clifford Chance and Linklaters have become the first foreign firms to win approval to open second offices in China. Although all three firms had already acquired second offices through European mergers, none of them had licences in their own names. In line with China's World Trade Organization (WTO) commitments, the Ministry of Justice had promised to relax its geographic restrictions on law firm offices. Before signing up to the WTO, China issued licences to foreign firms on a quota basis, good for five years in most cases. Even with a licence, firms could open only one office, forcing most into a decision between Shanghai and Beijing. Others, including Deacons and Stephenson Harwood & Lo, opened in Guangzhou, just across the border from Hong Kong, in Guangdong province.

National governments have long held special rights allowing them to block takeovers of state-favoured companies. But new rulings from the European Court of Justice could make such holdings illegal. By Vincent Brophy of Linklaters

Politicians are pointing to deregulation of the trading in energy derivatives as the failure behind the California energy crisis. Not true, says Philip McBride Johnson of Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom