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Grand Metropolitan and Guinness are merging to form GMG Brands, the world's largest spirits and wine group. The group will be worth around £23.8 billion (US$38.6 billion), but the merger has been challenged by rival drinks companies who believe it is anti-competitive.

The piecemeal reforms of US banking regulations do open genuine opportunities to foreign banks. Connie M Friesen and David Nissenbaum of Richards & O’Neil, LLP, New York, explain

‘Rogue’ traders are an inevitable price paid by the markets for their cultivation of immature and selfish behaviour. By Eric C Bettelheim of Mayer, Brown & Platt, London

Freshfields has announced the appointment of a second partner in its London US securities group and is set to complete its first US registered securities deal. Don Guiney joins the US securities group from Brobeck Hale and Dorr, the London operation of Boston firm Hale and Dorr and California's Brobeck Phleger & Harrison. "What I did for Brobeck Hale was to establish their joint venture office [in 1990] with a credible securities practice operating for both underwriters and issuers," explains Guiney. "But Freshfields offered the challenge and excitement of working to build a securities practice in the global market."

Legislative reform of the German financial markets continues with the publication in April of the long-awaited draft of the Third Financial Markets Promotion Act. The bill is expected to come into force on January 1 1998.

Hitherto neglected areas of Islamic commercial law can be used to create an Islamic structure for project finance deals. By Mansoor H Khan of Khan & Associates, Lahore, Pakistan

The Treasury Ministry has recently enacted, by Decree No. 87 of January 24 1997, published in the Official Gazette on April 2 1997, new provisions amending the terms, conditions and timing of state subsidies for export credits and credit in the execution of works abroad under Law No. 227 of May 24 1977.

The Board of the Central Bank of Chile in its meeting of April 5 1997 resolved to open access to the Formal Exchange Market (made up of banks and authorized foreign exchange brokerage firms) for purchases of foreign exchange to make investments or pay expenses in Chile or abroad in foreign currency, to eliminate other restrictions on investment abroad and to renew the effectiveness of the rest of the foreign exchange restrictions on the entry of capital into Chile.

The Republic of Croatia has made its first offering of Eurobonds. The issue included an international tranche of US$300 million of 7% notes under rule 144A and a domestic tranche of Kuna 300 million. Merrill Lynch lead-managed the issue.

• US firm Winthrop, Stimson, Putnam & Roberts has made Christine Pallares partner. Pallares, who specializes in corporate and capital markets, is based in New York.