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The US$400 million financing of the ECK Generating (ECKG) power plant in Kladno, Czech Republic, has reached financial closure. This is the first independent power project in the Czech Republic to be funded on a project finance basis. The financing is structured in Czech koruna, Deutschmarks and dollars.

The government of Panama has sold a 49% stake in the country's national telephone company, Intel, in central America's first telecoms privatization. UK telecoms company Cable & Wireless paid US$632 million in cash for the stake, beating rival bidder GTE Corporation of Stamford.

The Third Annual In-House Counsel Event

A draft EU Directive which would increase the freedom of qualified EU lawyers to establish themselves and offer legal services in any member state has taken another step towards legislation. The proposed Directive would allow lawyers to practise permanently and without restriction, under their original professional title, in any EU member state, on the same basis as the host country's own lawyers. All that would be required would be registration with the bar or other relevant authority in the host state, on the same basis as in the home country. In addition, the Directive aims to make it easier to acquire the relevant professional title in the host country. Member states will have to acknowledge the professional experience foreign lawyers have gained in their jurisdiction.

Section 6 of Singapore's Civil Law Act nullifies gaming contracts and prohibits the recovery of any wagering prize. It remains unclear as to whether a swap agreement is a gaming contact within the meaning of the Act and hence invalid under Singapore law.

The company law reform package which came into force on July 1 1994 introduced a substantially simpler amalgamation procedure into New Zealand law. This has resulted in an increased number of corporate restructurings. The statutory procedure enables one or more companies to be absorbed into another existing company, or two or more companies to be joined so as to form a new company.

The law in the United States relating to electronic funds transfers is new and undeveloped. Article 4A, governing these types of transactions, has been added to the Uniform Commercial Code and adopted by many states, including New York. A case recently reported, Sheerbonnet Ltd v American Express Bank Ltd, 951 F Supp 403 (SDNY 1995), sheds some light on the interplay between Article 4A and the common law.

Mireille Quirina, chief counsel Europe for Du Pont, talks to Diana Bentley

UK firm Simmons & Simmons has effectively taken over its Italian associate firm, Grippo e Associati, based in Milan & Rome. The firms have operated together under the name Grippo, Associati e Simmons & Simmons since May 1993. The former managing partner of Simmons & Simmons, Alasdair Neil, has taken up the role of managing director of the Italian offices and is moving to Milan shortly. He says: "We chose to do this because the arrangement was working so well." The new name of the firm will be Simmons & Simmons Grippo. The move follows Clifford Chance's decision to bring some of its Italian partners into the UK partnership, and Freshfields opening Italian offices. However Neil denies it is a way of rewarding the Italian lawyers. "It is a way of taking things to their logical conclusion and demonstrates that they have fully become a part of Simmons & Simmons." Senior partner of the Italian offices, Eugenio Grippo, explains: "The original office was a joint venture, in which Simmons had a smaller interest than Grippo e Associati. Now the Italian group is part and parcel of Simmons & Simmons." The offices will retain his name as long as he stays with the firm, and also, he says, "to remind our clients that we are an Italian firm although we have become more international". As a result of the merger, three Italian partners become partners in Simmons & Simmons: Bruno Gattai, Filippo Pingue and Stefano Speroni. Grippo is already a partner of the UK firm.

The first International Financial Law Review survey of the mergers and acquisitions market has identified the leading firms advising on deals worth US$1 billion or more. By Richard Forster