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On April 10 2001 the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) published a consultation paper reviewing the Codes on Takeovers and Mergers and Share Repurchases relating to public companies.

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.

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.

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

French boutique firm Bredin Prat has poached a senior partner from the breakaway Paris arm of Dutch firm Stibbe. Stibbe Paris is in merger talks with US firm Latham & Watkins. Competition specialist Hughes Calvet is to join the French mergers and acquisitions boutique in September, ending a seven-year tenancy at Stibbe. Calvet says his decision was not connected to Stibbe's talks with Latham & Watkins and that Bredin Prat was simply better suited to his area of practice. "Joining a firm like Bredin Prat would be a positive prospect for any lawyer in Paris," he says. "I think there is room for a boutique firm that focuses on top end work."

On July 4 2001, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) took another significant step in reforming China's banking sector by issuing the Tentative Provisions on Commercial Banks' Other Businesses. The Provisions broaden the activities of Chinese banks to cover businesses that are investment in nature, a landmark development in the Chinese banking industry. With China's WTO entry imminent, Chinese commercial banks will face fierce competition from their foreign counterparts operating in China and the Provisions will help to create a level playing field.

French company law has for a long time been the source of some confusion over the differing roles of management groups. The New Economic Regulations Law has now been passed with the intention of clearing up the mess and giving greater rights to works councils. Olivier de Précigout of Lovells, Paris, and Arnaud Latscha of Siméon & Associés look at the reforms

The latest legislative change prompting discussion is the Financial Services Reform Bill 2001 (FSRB) which is at present before the Federal Parliament. Now that the new federal Corporations Act 2001 has come into force, as of July 15 2001, the way has been paved for the FSRB to commence on October 1 2001.

On July 16 2001 the Argentine Commercial Court No. 15 ruled on the opening of preventive proceedings (concurso preventivo) to restructure over $900 million in debt of the flag-carrier Aerolíneas Argentinas and the appointment of receivers following a voluntary petition filed by the company to avoid a declaration of bankruptcy. Aerolíneas Argentinas is owned by the Spanish state holding company SEPI, which has been negotiating with the Argentine government over the airline's future.

The Privy Council (with judgment delivered by Lord Millett) has overruled the Court of Appeal decision of In re New Bullas Trading Limited [1994] I BCLC 449 by stating that it is not possible to obtain a fixed charge on uncollected book debts by treating the uncollected debts and their proceeds as two separate assets and creating a fixed charge over the uncollected debts with a floating charge over the proceeds.