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The last 18 months have seen an explosion in the number and size of US firms with English law capability in their London offices. Other firms are steadfastly following their own strategy. Paul Lee reports

Chinese conglomerate CITIC Pacific acquired a 20% stake in China Light & Power, the monopoly provider of electricity to the Kowloon peninsula. CITIC Pacific, a subsidiary of the state-owned China International Trust and Investment Corporation, already has stakes in the airline Cathay Pacific and various trading and property companies. The deal may allow China Light & Power to supply the Chinese mainland with electricity.

Siebe, the UK's largest diversified engineering company, issued US$250 million of global notes under US law. The notes were offered under Rule 144A and Regulation S.

International investment bank Morgan Stanley is to merge with US retail financial services firm Dean Witter, Discover. The merger will create the US's biggest securities firm in terms of capital, with an estimated market capitalization of US$20 billion and total assets under management of US$270 billion.

UK firm Allen & Overy is continuing the rapid expansion of its Moscow office. This follows the arrival last year of two lawyers from US firm Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy's Moscow office.

The Swiss Admission Board has published guidelines for issuers on disclosure requirements relating to new price-sensitive information. By Urs Schenker of Baker & McKenzie, Zurich

CONSOB, the Italian regulator, is granted by LD No. 415/96 (enacted to implement the ISD Directive) the power to regulate trading of listed financial instruments in official markets. On December 10 1996 CONSOB approved Resolution 10358 which, in some cases, imposes trading of listed financial instruments in official markets and, in other cases, lays down the conditions for over-the-counter (OTC) transactions.

Under a Ministry of Justice proposal yet to be formally released, Finland would legislate to clarify the regulatory regime for netting in the securities and currency markets. The present uncertainty surrounding the legality of netting under Finnish insolvency laws would be largely dispelled by making netting (including close-out netting and multi-party netting) and certain related procedures expressly enforceable if based on terms, such as those of the ISDA master agreement, widely used in securities and currency trading.

In November 1996, the Consumer Council published a Competition Policy Report urging the government to enact competition laws on collusive agreements, abuse of dominant position, abuse of collective dominance and control of markets through mergers and acquisitions. The report was the first of its kind in Hong Kong, which at present does not have any laws governing monopolies, cartel-like supply structures and other anti-competitive practices.

US buy-out specialist Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) agreed to pay US$1.05 billion for about 90% of the shares of US electrical equipment company Amphenol.