Search results for

On December 15 2000, Poland's parliament adopted the law on the Protection of Competition and Consumers Act (Journal of Laws No 122, item 1319), which came into force as of April 1 2001.

News round-up In a move described by Mannheimer Swartling as a "friendly separation", five senior lawyers at the legal arm of Enskilda Securities, Enskilda Law took partnerships with the Stockholm-based firm.

News round-up Following the example of their neighbours across the water in Denmark, medium-sized Norwegian firms have started the year with a rash of mergers that has seen local market distribution shrink and conflict of interest problems grow.

"A cocktail of Kafkaesque inefficiency"

Clifford Chance and Herbert Smith have worked alongside Scottish firm Tods Murray to structure a £1.5 billion ($2.2 billion) collateralized loan obligation (CLO) for Bank of Scotland, the first securitization of corporate loans under Scottish law. The deal, which uses a vehicle called Melrose Financing No 1 registered in England, is a true-sale cash flow CLO backed by Bank of Scotland loans to medium-sized UK corporates. The size of the individual loans securitized distinguishes Melrose from HSBC Bank's pioneering Clover Funding No 1 deal last year, in which a large corporate loan portfolio was securitized. Melrose sold two tranches of notes in dollars, sterling and euros and the structure enables further issuance.

Even though the existence of electronic money can be traced back to 1918, when the federal reserve banks of the USA first moved currency via telegraphic means, electronic money is still a relatively new product. In general, two distinct types of electronic money can be distinguished: identified e-money and anonymous e-money (also known as digital cash). Identified electronic money contains information revealing the identity of the person who originally withdrew the money from the bank. Also, in much the same manner as credit cards, identified electronic money enables the bank to track the money as it moves through the economy. Anonymous electronic money works just like real paper cash. Once anonymous electronic money is withdrawn from an account, it can be spent or given away without leaving a transaction trail.

On February 22 2001, Brazil's National Monetary Council approved Resolution No 2817, establishing the rules regarding the opening of new current accounts by electronic means.

Weil, Gotshal & Manges and Clifford Chance have advised on the first securitization of royalty payments for a multi-jurisdictional music publishing catalogue. The deal, for Chrysalis Group, is the world's largest transaction backed by music rights and the first for an international music publisher. Jacky Kelly led the Weil Gotshal team acting for arranger The Royal Bank of Scotland, which is securitizing the publisher's share of royalties for the next 15 years. John Woodhall at Clifford Chance led the team advising Chrysalis.

Providing heartening news for Latin America's technology sector, Chile's Certifica.com this March became one of the first internet companies on the continent to attract venture capital since US tech-stocks crashed last year. Advised by Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton, Certifica completed its first round of financing early in March, raising $3.3 million. Compared to Silicon Valley financings the numbers are small, but according to one investor completion of the deal is a key step in developing Latin America's web economy.

Linklaters and A&O act on benchmark Polish bond issue