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New York mutual life insurer Metropolitan Life Insurance has acquired Californian-based Security First Group from London Insurance Group. The deal is worth US$377 million.

Cleveland firm Squire, Sanders & Dempsey has opened an office in Madrid. The office will be headed by Juan Picón, formerly at Clifford Chance, Madrid. It opened on September 1 and will be staffed by six lawyers.

Reforms to the Italian capital gains tax system will have significant implications for the capital markets and the repo and securities lending markets. By Susanna Beltramo and Marina Savastano of Studio Legale Beltramo, Rome

The German Securities Trading Supervisory Authority’s latest guidelines for the conduct of investment services business are out. Alexander Vogt and Peter Waltz of Oppenhoff & Rädler, Frankfurt, assess them in the context of existing rules

As with all emerging markets, securitization offers Peru new forms of debt instrument with a greatly reduced risk of default. New rules should boost the developing market. By Esteban Mancuso of White & Case, New York

The latest no-action letters from the US SEC expand the exemptions available to unregistered dealers. By Charles S Gittleman, Julia E Moran and Eva Don-Siemion of Shearman & Sterling, New York

On June 25 1997, the US Supreme Court held in United States v O'Hagan, 117 S Ct 2199 (1997), that it is a violation of the US securities laws for corporate outsiders to trade in securities for personal profit using material, non-public information in breach of a fiduciary duty owed to the source of the information. The Court thus ratified the misappropriation theory of liability, which has been used in nearly half the insider trading cases brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in recent years.

At a weekend summit on September 13 and 14, EU finance ministers agreed that bilateral conversion rates for future members of the single currency would be announced next May. The declaration will coincide with the announcement of the founding members of economic and monetary union (Emu), and is intended to reduce the risk of currency speculation before the launch of the Euro.

What do these words mean in the context of a financial agreement? Financial lawyers are very familiar with this phrase because it is included in most loan participation agreements and syndicated loan agreements for the purpose of protecting the lead or agent bank.

The Russian government has announced an ambitious privatization programme for 1998 under which it plans to sell substantial equity stakes in 37 major companies of an estimated total value of over US$5 billion. The enterprises listed include such giants as Aeroflot airlines, oil company Rosneft, and pipeline operator Transneft. To implement the programme, Russia has adopted a new Law on the Privatization of State Property and on the Fundamentals of the Privatization of Municipal Property in the Russian Federation (Law No. 123-FZ, dated July 21 1997). The Law modifies some of the existing rules on the privatization of state assets, adopts new safeguards in response to past abuses, and contemplates the introduction of new players into the privatization process.