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European Commission officials are considering whether to block a hostile bid for Montedison. The Italian industrial group is the target of a $4.18 billion joint offer by the acquisitive French utility company Électricité de France (EDF) and Italian carmaker Fiat. The Commission's decision is a particularly difficult one because of the way in which Fiat and EDF have structured their bid. Both are bidding through their joint venture company Italenergia, which has no turnover, while Montedison itself gets two-thirds of its revenues from the Italian market. Under EU rules each merger partner has to have euro 250 million ($215 million) in more than one EU country. Whether the deal is a matter for Italian regulators or the Commission will depend on whether EU officials consider the assets of Fiat and EDF separately.

Herbert Smith advised lead manager Royal Bank of Scotland and trustee Citicorp on the £251 million ($351 million) mixed asset securitization for UK retail lender and insurer Paragon. The securitization involved combing loan and second mortgage principal and income payments into a single issue. Finance partner Jane Borrows led the Herbert Smith team, which also included derivatives specialist Dina Abagli, tax specialist Bradley Phillips and property partner James Barnes. Slaughter and May partner Chris Smith advised Paragon with Scottish firm Tods Murray and Northern Ireland firm L'Estrange & Brett advising on Scottish and Northern Irish law respectively.

Sidley, Austin, Brown & Wood has closed Asia's first whole-business securitization, using Malaysia's UK-style insolvency and security laws to structure a deal robust enough to satisfy the rating agencies. The $250 million floating rate secured note benchmark deal, arranged by Nomura International for 1st Silicon, a new silicon water fabrication plant in Sarawak, has created the potential to use whole-business legal technology elsewhere in the region.

Richard Walker, director of enforcement for the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has quit the regulator after 10 years of service in another blow to the Commission's recruitment needs. Walker's decision to leave the regulator for more lucrative rewards in industry mirrors increasingly frequent moves by the SEC's lawyers, accountants and examiners. Acting SEC chairman Laura Unger has been reported as stating that high-level departures at the watchdog have created a "staffing crisis".

By P. Srinivasan, Senior Associate of J Sagar Associates

By Ravi Nath, Senior Partner of Rajinder Narain & Co, New Delhi

Little & Co.

By Ravi Nath, Senior Partner of Rajinder Narain & Co, New Dehli

By Diljeet Titus and Rashi Anand of Titus & Co

By Sharad D Abhyanker, partner and Nikhilesh N Panchal, senior solicitor associate, of Little & Co