Search results for

The government has announced the merger of the Stock Exchange of Singapore (SES) and the Singapore International Monetary Exchange (Simex).

On October 6 1998 the People's Bank of China ordered the closure of a non-bank financial institution, Guangdong International Trust and Investment Co (GITIC). Although this has worried foreign financial institutions and the media, it must be seen as a significant step towards a market economy and the implementation of the rule of law.

Siebe and BTR are merging to create the world's largest maker of factory controls and automation equipment. UK engineering company Siebe will effectively acquire rival industrial equipment maker BTR to form a new group, valued at £9.4 billion ($14.7 billion). Linklaters & Alliance corporate partner Steven Turnbull is advising Siebe on the acquisition, with a team including partner Carlton Evans and assistants Angus Rollo, Helen Connolly and David Taylor. Morgan, Lewis & Bockius partner Izzet Sinan, based in Brussels, is advising Siebe on competition law aspects of the transaction. In the US, Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson, New York, is advising on US securities law issues as well as regulatory law. Partners Sanford Krieger and Eric Queen lead the team.

Fannie Mae, the leading US mortgage lender, last week announced a $3 billion bond issue. The bonds are five year benchmark notes, due November 14 2003.. It was Fannie Mae's first issue in the five-year market since April.

Allen & Overy has formally announced that its link with French firm Gide Loyrette Nouel is over. The two firms say they remain good friends and will continue to refer work to each other when appropriate. The third firm in the relationship, Loeff Claeys Verbeke, will continue its association with both firms. The link has ended owing to Allen & Overy's wish to build up its own French legal capability as reported in the November issue of IFLR.

• New York's Brown & Wood has added two lawyers from Baltimore-based Piper & Marbury to form a new Korean practice. Jaemin Park and Jay Cohen both join the firm's Washington DC office as partners. • The Washington DC office of Chicago's Sidley & Austin has added White House associate counsel Karen Popp as a partner. Popp will work in the firm's corporate crime, internal investigations and commercial litigation practices. She has worked at the White House for the last two years, advising congressional and grand jury investigations.

Freshfields of the UK and Germany's Deringer Tessin Herrmann & Sedemund have signed an agreement to associate formally with 40-lawyer Austrian firm Wolf Theiss & Partners. The firms have agreed to share resources and refer clients where necessary, as well as to exchange lawyers and form cross-firm practice groups. Partner Richard Wolf of Wolf Theiss explains: "We were in talks with Deringer when they were also talking to Freshfields, so we were able to seize the opportunity of doing something with both of them."

Barbara Galli talks to Olivér Glatz, General Counsel of the National Bank of Hungary

Brazil has won international support for its reform programme. A $41.5 billion loan is being made available over three years; $37 billion to be used, if necessary, in the first 12 months. Of the total amount, $18 billion is being secured by the IMF, $4.5 billion by the World Bank, $4.5 billion by the Inter-American Development Bank and $14.5 billion by a pool of 20 countries, including a contribution of $5 billion from the US. In return, Brazil is committed to attaining budget surpluses, before interest, of 2.6% of GDP in 1999, 2.8% in 2000 and 3% in 2001. The government aims to achieve this by implementing a programme described in a memorandum, which makes clear that the present exchange rate policy will remain unchanged to secure a low inflation rate. Brazilian domestic interest rates will be kept at about 20% in 1999. About $9 billion should be disbursed when the IMF approves the memorandum in a couple of weeks. Another instalment of about $9 billion would be available in February 1999 if the IMF is satisfied with the implementation of the programme. The programme includes:

Meredith Brown, Giselle Hantz and Scott Budlong of Debevoise & Plimpton, New York and London analyze the conflict between US regulation and the UK’s City Code in the light of the SEC’s cross-border proposals