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Maheen Pfeffer of Afridi Angell & Khan, Islamabad, assess the prospects for foreign investment and growth in the power industry

Like in many other European countries, Belgian companies have recently been setting up captive reinsurance companies in Luxembourg or Ireland to avoid or reduce taxes.

Clifford Chance and Allen & Overy have acted on the SFr 580 million ($342 million) management buy-out of the Swiss airport company Swissport International. European buy-out specialist Candover has bought the company from the bankrupt Swiss airline SwissAir. Clifford Chance partners David Pearson and Ian Bagshaw led the team advising Candover, while Allen & Overy banking partner Jacqueline Evans and corporate partner Jeremy Hunt advised Royal Bank of Scotland, the leader of a syndicate of five banks including ING, West LB, HypoVereinsbank and HBOS.

Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton has acted as US and Russian counsel on a $227 million offering for Russian dairy products and juice company Wimm-Bill-Dann.

Ashurst Morris Crisp is refocusing its structured finance practice away from issuers and towards financial institutions.

The Securities Industry Association last month released guidelines on preventing money laundering.

Authorities in Shanghai are looking at developing rules for a corporate credit-rating system, according to local lawyers.

Financial institutions will soon have to adopt more transparent practices in the way they allocate shares to institutional and retail investors in primary offerings.

A revised Code of Banking Practice, applicable to relationships between individual customers and authorized institutions under the Banking Ordinance (AIs), became effective as of December 1 2001. AIs generally have six months to comply with its terms.

Bankers in over 15 countries fear domestic and international regulation is a growing threat to their business, according to an industry survey published in February. The rulemaking of national regulators such as the UK's Financial Services Authority, and efforts to introduce global measures such as the Basle II capital accord, now rank as top-10 threats to the banking world, the survey suggests.