Search results for

Following the enactment of the most recent Investment Companies Law (Ley de Sociedades de Inversión) last year, the National Securities Commission (Comisión Nacional de Valores) is now considering regulations that would allow authorized asset managers to:

Under the amended Commercial Code of Japan, which took effect on April 1 2002, the provisions relating to convertible bonds were replaced by rules relating to bonds with stock acquisition rights. The purpose of the amendment is to treat the option element of the convertible bond in a similar fashion to a bare stock acquisition right. The aim of the amendment was not to change the substance of the law on convertible bonds.

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.

Samsung Capital has completed its third international asset-backed securitization deal. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, which has been involved on all the company's deals so far, advised Merrill Lynch, the arrangers. The deal was valued at $296 million and differed from the previous two in that it was placed in the US in reliance on Regulation S and Rule 144A. It was launched through the Cayman Islands-registered Samsung-Capital Auto 2002-1 special purpose vehicle and achieved a triple-A rating thanks to a monoline wrap provided by Financial Security Assurance (FSA).

By Clare Davidson, New York

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.

Uría y Menéndez and former Andersen ally J&A Garrigues are working on what may be one of the largest initial public offerings in Spain this year. Gas Natural's €1.6 billion ($1.4 billion) sale of Enagas, its gas distribution arm, is one of the first steps in a drive to liberalize the country's energy markets and is expected to breathe new life into Spain's capital markets.

Non-US issuers of mortgage- and asset-backed securities stand to benefit from two recent Australian offerings. Teams at Clayton Utz and Allens Arthur Robinson in Sydney have closed the first globally offered securitizations issued off an SEC shelf registration, paving the way for other foreign issuers. Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw in New York also played a crucial role at the SEC, winning approval for Commonwealth Bank of Australia's 2002-1G Medallion Trust, which became the first structured finance transaction conducted by a non-US issuer using an SEC Form S-3 registered shelf prospectus.

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.