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Since November 1993, Brazilian financial institutions have been allowed to acquire non-financial asset-backed securities (non-financial ABSs) issued by Brazilian Special Purposes Companies (SPCs). These domestic non-financial securitizations have been successfully done under the terms of the National Monetary Council's Resolution 2,026 of 1993. The non-financial assets have been transferred by Brazilian originators to the SPC and used to guarantee ABSs issued by the SPC. Even in cases where the Brazilian originators were subject to bankruptcy proceedings, the credit rights of the ABS holders were not affected.

UK firm Linklaters & Paines is set to open its first South American office with a representative office in São Paulo. The firm has done a large amount of debt work out of Brazil but the intention is to target the potential for private sector equity work. "During the next five years we are going to see a lot of equity stuff coming out of South America so putting a team down in Brazil will put us in a very good position," says Nick Eastwell, a partner with Linklaters in London who specializes in emerging market securities.

The merger between big six professional advisory and accounting firms Coopers & Lybrand and Price Waterhouse will bring together over 1000 lawyers worldwide, according to figures exclusively compiled by International Financial Law Review. The figures, gathered for the IFLRev 1000 Directory (to be published shortly), give an insight into the extent of the ambitions of the big six firms in the legal field. Alfred Fink, a lawyer in the Paris offices of Coopers & Lybrand, says: "This is the perfect mix. They are in locations where we aren't, such as Russia. Also, Price Waterhouse is very strong in Latin America, but we are stronger in Europe than they are."

• New York's Chadbourne & Parke LLP has made seven lawyers partners. They are: in Singapore, Bruce Rader (corporate and project finance); in Moscow, Mikhail Rozenberg (Russian practice); in Washington DC, Thomas Hechl (Russian practice and project finance); and in New York, Douglas Fried (project finance), Claude Serfilippi (corporate finance), Drew Wintringham (intellectual property) and Nancy Zajac (leasing).

McDonald & Hayden, Toronto

Fasken Martineau, London and Toronto

Legislative Decree No. 124 of April 21 1993 introduced the concept of pension funds which could be established in addition to the national compulsory pension system.

Partnership Property Management, a consortium led by Goldman Sachs, was chosen to take over the UK Department of Social Security's 700 properties. This deal, known as Project Prime, is the largest Private Finance Initiative transaction to date with a total value of £4 billion (US$6 billion)

Economic reform is beginning to reach into the Argentine provincial governments. Esteban A Mancuso of White & Case, New York, discusses ways the provinces could solve their financing difficulties

On July 19 1997 the Commission published a Communication on certain legal aspects concerning intra-EU investment. The Commission examined the compatibility of national measures which restrict cross-border investment with Article 73b (capital movements) and Article 52 (right of establishment), to conclude that: