Search results for

The Intergovernmental Conference, which had the task of reviewing the Maastricht Treaty, reached an agreement on a draft Treaty at the Amsterdam European Council on June 16 and 17. The draft Treaty is due to be signed in October 1997, at Amsterdam.

On June 16 the Ministry of Justice submitted a Draft Takeover Code introducing a mandatory public tender offer to all shareholders of listed target companies (excluding companies whose shares are traded in the over-the-counter market [Sonstiger Wertpapierhandel]). The Draft Code provides that the mandatory offer will be triggered by the acquisition of shares representing 30% or more of the voting rights in the target, irrespective of whether this acquisition of de facto control occurs through a voluntary public offer, a private purchase of a block of shares or multiple purchases in the market.

Cancelled banking merger

The Federal Telecommunications Commission (Cofetel) published on June 9 a call for bids for fixed or mobile wireless licences, to be awarded by the Ministry of Communications and Transport in a public auction to be held later this year. The licences will be for 20 years, and are stated to be for 30 MHz or 10 MHz within the 1850 to 1990 MHz band, for 50 MHz within the 3.4 to 3.7 GHz band and for 14 MHz within the 440 to 450 and 485 to 495 MHz bands.

CITIC Pacific has sold its 8% stake in HongKong Telecom to China Everbright, a small business backed by China's state council, for HK$11.39 billion (US$1.47 billion).

Every project facility must obtain an environmental licence from the Ministry of the Environment. The licence must be obtained before the project is started. An environmental licence is an authorization from the environmental authority to carry out work or a project which may cause damage to renewable natural resources such as water, air, fauna, flora, or landscape. The licence specifies the requirements and conditions that must be met, and the consequences of non-compliance.

Avis Europe, the leading car rental company in Europe, has floated for the second time on the London Stock Exchange, at 124 pence a share. The company first listed in 1986, after which it was bought by a consortium led by Belgian group D'Ieteren.

The debt crisis of the 1980s may be over, but the litigation arising from the various sovereign defaults is not. The holding of a recent case, Pravin Banker Associates v Banco Popular Del Peru, 1997 WL 134390 (2nd Cir NY), may have serious repercussions for rescheduling sovereign debt.

The Board of the Central Bank of Chile in its meeting of April 5 1997 resolved to open access to the Formal Exchange Market (made up of banks and authorized foreign exchange brokerage firms) for purchases of foreign exchange to make investments or pay expenses in Chile or abroad in foreign currency, to eliminate other restrictions on investment abroad and to renew the effectiveness of the rest of the foreign exchange restrictions on the entry of capital into Chile.

On April 2 1, the European Council of Industry Ministers reached agreement on important changes to the existing EU merger control regime under Council Regulation 4064/89 (the Merger Regulation). The principal amendments relate to: