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US firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom is advising Alltel Corporation in its bid for 360 Communications. Chicago firm Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal is counsel to 360 Communications. The proposed acquisition includes a stock swap, valued at US$4 billion, and the assumption of 360 Communications's US$1.8 billion debt. The companies have reached an accord on the merger and it has been approved by both boards.

Compagnie Générale des Eaux (CGE), the French utilities conglomerate, is to acquire the French media group Havas, in a Ffr40 billion (US$6.5 billion) deal. CGE was already, since last year, the dominant shareholder in the media group. Jean-François Prat, name partner at Bredin Prat, Paris, advises CGE.

US firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, advised insurance group Exel on its US$2.9 billion agreed bid for rival insurer Mid Ocean. Davis Polk & Wardwell advised Mid Ocean. Both businesses are based in Bermuda. The combined organization will rank, on the basis of market capitalization, as one of the 25 largest property insurers in the world. Coordinating Wachtell Lipton's team is corporate partner Craig Wasserman. The lawyers for Davis Polk include corporate specialists George Bason and John Knight and tax partner William Gifford.

US newsprint company Bowater announced on March 9 it is to pay C$3.5 billion (US$2.4 billion) for Canadian forest products company Avenor. The offer comprises C$2.5 billion in shares and C$1 billion in assumed debt, and sees off rival Abitibi-Consolidated, which also bid for Avenor last month. The deal means Bowater will become the world's largest newsprint producer after Abitibi. Bowater's Canadian counsel is Fraser & Beatty, Toronto, and the lead partner is Jamie Plant. US counsel is Cravath, Swaine & Moore, New York, and the lawyers are coordinated by Allen Finkelson. Local advice is provided by Wyche Burgess Freeman & Parham, in Greenville, South Carolina.

After US software company Computer Associates International's negotiations failed to persuade rival Computer Sciences to agree to a negotiated merger, it launched a hostile bid at a lower price of US$108 per share on February 17. It also began legal action designed to force Computer Sciences, which has a poison pill defence, to allow its shareholders to vote on the offer. One week later, Computer Sciences filed a lawsuit against Computer Associates, alleging it used illegal bullying tactics to force the company to accept its bid. It is seeking an injunction against the bid and damages to compensate it for the US$50 million-worth of business it says it has lost as a result of the bid.

UK firm Nabarro Nathanson has strengthened its presence in Paris. Partner and qualified avocat Frank Lipworth will set up his own firm, Cabinet Lipworth, which will operate as a Nabarro affiliate. The practice will concentrate on non-contentious commercial work with a view to breaking into the lucrative mergers and acquisitions market. Lipworth will work alongside Myriam Smith, a French avocat, using the office as a service post for Nabarro's London clients.

The Supreme Court has confirmed a decision passed by an Appellate Commercial Court in June 1995 In re NL SA v Bull Argentina SA, challenging the validity of agreements entered into among shareholders of Argentine corporations.

On March 5 1998 the Reserve Bank of New Zealand implemented a real-time gross settlement (RTGS) system for high value interbank transactions (including those in the wholesale securities and foreign exchange markets). The value of such transactions settled through the new Zealand banking system now averages more than NZ$30 billion (US$17.5 billion) a day. Previously, these interbank obligations were netted and settled overnight through each bank's settlement account with the Reserve Bank.

The IMF recently declared that measures taken by the Brazilian government in the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis have prevented the extension of the crisis to Latin America. The IMF also emphasized that the Brazilian stabilization programme depends on the implementation of constitutional amendments on public administration, social security and financial matters. The finance minister, Pedro Malan, stated that the reforms would need to be approved and implemented within two years. Meanwhile, Brazil's financial situation would be sustained with the proceeds of the privatization programme.

As capital markets, project finance and securities work dry up in Asia some law firms are concerned. Most are compensating by changing the emphasis of the work they offer. Some are even expanding. By Mairi MacLean of Baines Gwinner, London