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The UK’s Court of Appeal ruled last month that a bank can avoid payment on a performance bond if it has been acquired fraudulently. Paul Friedman and Philip Young of Baker & McKenzie, London, review the case and assess its implications for banks and bondholders

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has acted for Deutsche Bank as arranger on the first French whole-business securitization to use a domestic special purpose vehicle (SPV). The euro 700 million ($590 million) Powerhouse Finance transaction is the first whole-business deal to use a domestic Fonds Commun de Créances (FCC). Previous securitization deals in France have used vehicles based in offshore jurisdictions such as Jersey or Ireland.

Latham & Watkins and Davis Polk & Wardwell have structured the $1.1 billion limited recourse financing for the Hamaca heavy oil production and upgrading project in Venezuela. The deal is the first heavy oil project since the Sincor-sponsored transaction in mid-1998, and marks renewed interest and confidence in the country.

Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A Shroff & Co has negotiated the biggest deal in Indian corporate history. The firm's client was a mobile phone company owned by the two Indian business houses, Birla and Tata, and US telecoms company AT&T. The deal got underway when Birla-AT&T Tata company accepted a merger proposal from BPL, a mobile phone company controlled by Rajeev Chandrashekar, an Indian tycoon. That was in September 2000. Amarchand negotiated the deal directly with BPL and nine months later the three business houses, and AT&T, agreed to a merger valued at $2.1 billion.

Linklaters in Brazilian joint venture

"It's ludicrous that Europe can agree a single currency but cannot agree a common takeover law"

BBLP, Europe's continental alliance of European law firms, was in danger of breaking up last month after a further four partners resigned from the group's German member firm Beiten Burkhart Mittel & Wegener (BBMW). Coming barely a month after the defection of all but one of the firm's Frankfurt-based partners, the resignations have forced BBMW to accelerate its search for a UK partner and plug the gap in the alliance's European coverage. Mergers and acquisitions partner Christian von Sydow has been moved from the firm's Munich office to Frankfurt. BBMW is reported to be in merger negotiations with the UK firm Simmons & Simmons, but both Simmons and BBMW have so far refused to comment. However, Martin Aman, managing partner of BBLP's Swiss member firm Meyer Lustenberger, said in July that his firm had been informed of merger talks between the German and UK firms, although he refused to comment further.

Regulation No. 13086 of April 18 2001 of the Commissione Nazionale delle Società e della Borsa (CONSOB) has amended Regulation No. 11971 of May 14 1999. The aim of the amendment is to provide an alternative instrument for listing admissions of programmes for covered warrants with the clear benefit of simplifying listing procedures.

In December 2000, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Social and Health Affairs appointed a working group to prepare legislative amendments that could be implemented urgently. The report of the working group was delivered to the two ministries in June 2001. Under the existing provisions, the supervisory duty divided between the Finnish Financial Supervision Authority (FSA) and the Finnish Insurance Supervision Authority (ISA) is not clearly determined. It is possible that newly created banking and insurance groups could operate in the Finnish market without belonging to the area of responsibility of either of the above supervisory authorities.

Clark Randt, a Shearman & Sterling partner, has resigned from his firm to take up one the toughest diplomatic posts in the world. US president George W Bush announced his intention to appoint "Sandy" as US ambassador to China at the end of April, but his official appointment did not take place until July. Randt and Bush met as students at Yale University and have remained friends since then. "Sandy Randt has spent most of his professional career working with China in the foreign service and in business matters," says the president. "His expertise in the Chinese language and culture, international business, and foreign affairs will help us strengthen our important relationship with China as he serves as our next US ambassador."