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New York firm Donovan, Leisure has been crippled by the loss of two-thirds of its lawyers to Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, the California-based firm which has been expanding aggressively in New York. The two firms had been discussing a merger, but when the talks failed Orrick hand-picked the lawyers it wanted, including 14 partners and chairman Peter Coll. "Our primary interest was the litgation department," says New York managing partner Michael Voldstadt, soon to transfer to the new London office. "But there were other parts of the firm that interested us. The fact is that law firm mergers rarely happen. There was also a conflict issue that took a long time to resolve — eventually we just drifted apart."

On April 1 1998, the Third Financial Market Enhancement Act (Drittes Finanzmarktförderungsgesetz) entered into force amending various German statutes and covering stock exchange and securities trading law, investment fund law as well as the laws on venture capital companies, mortgage banks and public banks. The most important changes relate to the Stock Exchange Act (Börsengesetz), the Securities Trading Act (Wertpapierhandelsgesetz) and the Investment Companies Act (Kapitalanlagegesellschaftengesetz). In the area of stock exchange and securities trading law, the amendments include the following:

The Ministry of Finance issued a Decision on listing particulars on March 19 1998. The Decision concerns listing particulars to be published when an application for listing securities has been filed with the stock exchange or when securities subject to listing application are offered to the public. Shares, bonds, convertibles, warrants and depository receipts entitling to shares are subject to listing particulars requirements governed by the Decision.

In June 1998, a completely new version of the Act on Company Law Act No. 144/1997 (1997 CXLIV tv a gazdasági társaságokról) will take effect, replacing the old Act No.6/1988. The changes are partly formal, but also of a substantive nature. The new law contains a longer general part, while the special parts are leaner because the repetitive sections on individual company forms have been moved forward into the general part.

Regardless of where it takes place, a merger or acquisition that affects a Mexican market may be subject to a notice requirement before it has legal or material effect in Mexico. The Federal Competition Commission (CFC) regulates mergers and acquisitions as concentrations under the 1993 Federal Economic Competition Law and its recently adopted regulations.

Citigroup, the new company formed by the Travelers/Citicorp merger, appears to breach the US’s regulatory barriers between financial services. But lawyers suggest there are possible structures for the company to offer the full range of services. Paul Lee reports

The Government of Abu Dhabi is restructuring and privatizing its water and electricity industries. The work of the Privatization Committee includes the establishment of a regulatory framework, the creation of a new body, (Regulation and Supervision Bureau for the Water and Electricity Sector), the drafting of regulatory licences and the unbundling of the existing vertically integrated government department into separate companies. Denton Hall is advising the Privatization Committee on all issues. Leading the London-based team is energy partner Christopher McGee-Osborne. Energy partner Richard Metcalf is also working on the project.

The Russian Federal Securities Commission (FSC) is continuing to assert its authority over the securities market by introducing regulation of listed companies' share issues. The reforms follows the FSC's prohibition of the controversial Sidanco bond issue with the rules expected to become effective in May 1998. As in the commission's intervention in Sidanco's bond issue, these reforms are designed to alleviate worries about minority shareholder's rights. Russian companies will be required to disclose more detailed information to shareholders before registering share issues with the FSC. This must be done at least one month before prospectuses are submitted. The commission aims to boost its control over closed subscriptions to share issues.

The International Primary Market Association (IPMA) is set to introduce a standard form of pricing supplement for its investment bank members despite the opposition of some legal practitioners. The standard form pricing supplement for use on Eurobond issues done under Medium Term Note (MTN) programmes, now the most common method of issuance, has taken a year to evolve given the lengthy consultation process with law firms as well as banks and the clearing agencies. "Having a standard form for plain vanilla issues is a major contribution to the market and we have put enough flexibility into the document so that it may be used on any programme," says Cliff Dammers, secretary general of the IPMA. The three big law firms in the Euro MTN market - Linklaters & Paines, Allen & Overy and Clifford Chance - were all asked to make submissions on the draft. Some lawyers in those firm argue that MTNs are by their nature not suitable for standardization. "It is not a market which lends itself to standardization," says David Dunnigan, partner in the London office of Clifford Chance. "Each programme tends to be crafted to the particular requirements of the borrower." Michael Voisin a partner at Linklaters & Paines in London agrees and argues that it will necessitate issuers changing the terms and conditions written into their programmes.

US firm Seward & Kissel has pulled out of Hungary. The Budapest practice of US rival Squire, Sanders & Dempsey will take over the office. Seward & Kissel's office, which opened in Budapest in 1992 and was the firm's only foreign outpost, was staffed by two senior lawyers: partner Blaise Pasztory and counsel Peter Komaromi. Squire Sanders' five lawyer team will move into Seward & Kissel's old office under the management of Pasztory and Komaromi.