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The Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) has republished proposed Rule 45-501 (the "proposed rule") on exempt distributions. The proposed rule has been revised as a result of comments received on the version of the proposed rule originally published for comment in September 2000 (the "original version").

Annelies van der Pauw Davis, Polk & Wardwell and Allen & Overy have advised on an issue of ordinary shares for the Dutch insurer AEGON. The issue of shares by private placement to investors in The Netherlands and offering to institutional investors outside of the country, was made to finance the acquisition of the direct marketing services of US retail chain JC Penney Company. Allen & Overy partners Annelies van der Pauw and Thomas Werlen advised AEGON on the $1.5 billion while Davis, Polk & Wardwell partner Jeffrey Oakes advised joint book runners and lead managers Credit Suisse First Boston and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter.

The Australian attorney general is on a mission to force greater liberalization of Singapore's legal market. Singapore's reform efforts so far, says Daryl Williams, have favoured the UK and US firms far more than the Australians. In the context of a free trade deal between Australia and Singapore, this hardly seems fair. Williams took his case to the Singaporeans at the beginning of June with a legal services mission to the city state, comprising representatives of the International Legal Services Advisory Council, the Law Council of Australia, law firms, law schools and arbitration and mediation specialists.

"It's one thing to put a nice pretty code of standards together and put it on the shelf. I'm more interested in whether it's being applied in the market"

The Central Bank of Brazil established, in its Circular No. 3.039 of June 8 2001, the 2001 Census of Foreign Capital in Brazil. This was due to the increase of foreign capital which has been invested in the country over the last five years.

The Argentine government recently announced a $29.48 billion debt swap of short term bonds for securities with longer-term maturities, deferring debt service costs by approximately $17 billion through the end of 2005. The "mega" exchange reduces financial needs at a time when it is crucial to make room to restore growth and ease fears of a default. The transaction was approved by Decree No. 648 dated May 16 2001.

Companies around the world have cut back on consolidation this year, according to a survey by international accountancy firm KPMG. In what is a worrying report for international mergers and acquisitions (M&A) lawyers, the accountancy firm's corporate finance group reported that the number of deals in the first half of 2001 were down 32% on the same period in 2000 marking a 54% drop in activity.

Norton Rose is preparing to increase its Chinese practice in 2002. The UK firm has just applied to the Chinese ministry of justice for a licence to practice in Beijing and also plans to return to Hong Kong next year, after its three-year exile comes to an end.

Restructurings that involve either Chinese assets or Chinese joint venture partners can pose real problems for foreign creditors. Raymond Lau, Joe Bannister and John Banks of Lovells, Hong Kong, examine the options available, together with the various cross-border issues that will arise when trying to recover assets from China

Ofta wants tighter control of telecoms M&A in Hong Kong. In June, the Hong Kong government closed the consultation period on proposals to tighten the regulatory regime for M&A in the telecoms industry. Katie Elias of Simmons & Simmons, Hong Kong, reviews the proposals