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The Insolvency Law Reform Act 1997 (effective as of October 1 1997) introduces a new procedure, designed to facilitate the rescue of financially troubled companies. The reorganization procedure (Unternehmensreorganisation) can be initiated by any business entity (with the exception of banks, pension funds and insurance and securities companies) which are in need of reorganization but which are not yet insolvent.

The extent to which foreign debtors and foreign creditors are subject to the US Bankruptcy Code is one of the grey areas in this field of law. A recent case decided by a US bankruptcy court in Houston, Texas, In re Jacobo Xacur (96-48538), sheds some light on this troublesome area.

Ford Credit's asset-backed programme issuer Globaldrive, has completed its debut issue, a Dm1 billion (US$566 million) securitization of US originated dealer floorplan loans. Globaldrive is the first corporate securitization vehicle in Europe which will allow for the issue of separately rated notes backed by discrete asset pools from different countries.

New provisions in Luxembourg on the merger of the capacities of debtor and creditor in one person (confusion) mean issuers are no longer forced to cancel their own debt after purchase. By Henri Wagner of Zeyen Beghin Feider/Loeff Claeys Verbeke, Luxembourg

US firms Shearman & Sterling and Sullivan Cromwell are advising on the flotation of a UK telecommunications company Energis, a subsidiary of UK electricity distributor National Grid. The company is expected to come to the market in December with a market capitalization of £1 billion (US$1.62 billion). London firms Slaughter and May and Cameron McKenna are advising on UK law.

French firm Bureau Francis Lefebvre has merged its Spanish operations with three Spanish firms. The new firm begins operations in Madrid on October 1 1997. The three Spanish firms are: Briones, Alonso & Martin; Rodes & Sala and Rubio & Carretero. The firm will be known as Briones, Alonso & Martin-Bureau Francis Lefebvre. Partners at the Spanish firms will eventually be integrated into the Lefebvre worldwide partnership. "It is a merger, but it will be spread over time," says Pierre-Sebastien Thill, a partner at Lefebvre in Paris. "There are increasing movements from France to Spain. We want to be able to provide a service to clients, but also to get Spanish clients."

Seven partners have defected from the Gothenburg office of leading Swedish firm Lagerlöf & Leman to form a new firm, KPMG Wahlin Advokatbyrå. However, the new firm will not continue to be called that for long because the Swedish Bar Association has forced the firm to drop KPMG from its name as of November 1 1997. The Bar said the name gave the impression the firm was not an independent law firm. "We think it is the wrong decision," says name partner Tryggve Wahlin. "The Swedish Bar Association needs to adapt to the market trend. We do not agree with the view that the name gives the appearance that we are not independent. What is important is that we are independent." The firm is a member of the KPMG-aligned international network of law firms, and has a cooperation agreement with KPMG Bohlins, the Swedish accounting, tax and consulting arm of the big six firm. But it is, Wahlin insists, an independently-owned law firm.

The big six have already made significant inroads into the French and Spanish legal markets, but so far the Portuguese have managed to keep them at bay, with some very stiff regulation. Nick Ferguson reports

Davis & Company have become the first Canadian firm to open an office in Japan. The Tokyo office is the firm's first outside Canada. The office is staffed by two Canadian lawyers and there are plans to increase the number of lawyers to over 10, including Japanese lawyers (bengoshi), if the Japanese Bar Association removes restrictions (see International Financial Law Review, September 1997, page 27).

In June 1997 the Danish Parliament adopted a new Act on Competition (No. 384), bringing Danish competition law into line with EU competition principles. The provisions of the new Act come into force on January 1 1998.