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The Intergovernmental Conference, which had the task of reviewing the Maastricht Treaty, reached an agreement on a draft Treaty at the Amsterdam European Council on June 16 and 17. The draft Treaty is due to be signed in October 1997, at Amsterdam.

The German government’s discussion paper on the Third Act for the Promotion of Financial Markets will enhance German stock markets, investment funds and venture capital. By Thomas Paul of Oppenhoff & Rädler, Frankfurt am Main

The Federal Telecommunications Commission (Cofetel) published on June 9 a call for bids for fixed or mobile wireless licences, to be awarded by the Ministry of Communications and Transport in a public auction to be held later this year. The licences will be for 20 years, and are stated to be for 30 MHz or 10 MHz within the 1850 to 1990 MHz band, for 50 MHz within the 3.4 to 3.7 GHz band and for 14 MHz within the 440 to 450 and 485 to 495 MHz bands.

CITIC Pacific has sold its 8% stake in HongKong Telecom to China Everbright, a small business backed by China's state council, for HK$11.39 billion (US$1.47 billion).

The advertising group Cordiant announced in April that it will split into three companies later this year. The demerger will create Saatchi & Saatchi, a worldwide advertising network; Bates, a marketing communications network; and a media services group, Zenith. The group will hold an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders on the demerger in October.

• Robert Kimmitt, who in some of his previous incarnations has been managing director of Lehman Brothers, US ambassador to Germany, under-secretary of state for political affairs and general counsel of the US Treasury Department, joined Wilmer Cutler & Pickering as a partner on May 1. He will practise in the firm's corporate and international groups, in the Washington DC office. The firm has also added Leon Greenfield, Charles Mendels and Brian Menkes as counsel.

In spite of the decision in the Scandex case, the liability of directors of foreign-based financial services companies selling into the UK in contravention of FSA rules remains unclear. By David Greene of Edwin Coe, London

Media and investment consortium Castle Transmission has issued the first sterling high-yield, or junk, bond. The £125 million (US$202 million) 9% guaranteed bond is due in 2007.

Last month Arnheim & Co, the UK legal arm of big six accountants Price Waterhouse, announced it had taken the prize scalp of boutique financial services and fund management firm MW Cornish & Co (see International Financial Law Review, June 1997, page 6). However, it is now clear the the scalp is not the prize it first appeared. A third of the lawyers in MW Cornish & Co left the firm in advance of its merger on July 1 1997. Two of the boutique financial services firm's partners have joined Arnheim & Co, but three other lawyers have decided to move elsewhere.

The Prague office of UK firm Allen & Overy is adding five Czech and UK-qualified lawyers in the next few months. This will bring the total number of lawyers in the office to 12: four Czech advokats and four junior Czech lawyers and four UK-qualifieds. Graham Donnell, managing partner of the office, explains that the growth is in response to an increased workload, particularly in banking and finance.