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German law firms Droste and Boesebeck Barz & Partners are to merge. The new firm will be called Boesebeck Droste. The merger will be effective from January 1 1997.

US hospital management company Tenet Healthcare has made a successful bid of US$1.8 billion in stock for rival OrNda Healthcorp. The merger creates a company with revenues of US$8.5 billion and 126 hospitals. Tenet also assumed US$1.3 billion of OrNda debt.

The dissolution of the international partnership between Canadian firms Ogilvy Renault and Osler Hoskin & Harcourt was coolly calculated many months in advance by Ogilvy. This much is revealed by an Ogilvy Renault internal memo dating from 1995 obtained by International Financial Law Review which discusses the future of a potential independent Ogilvy Renault office in London. The official reason given by both firms for the split in London in February 1996 was that Ogilvy Renault had announced it was to open an office in Toronto in the summer of 1996. However, the memo states that in mid-1995 Ogilvy Renault was "considering various alternatives" to its arrangements with Osler Hoskin. The memo was addressed by then managing partner of the London office, Michael Fortier (now based in Montreal), to managing partner Raymond Crevier.

John Taylor, general counsel at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, London, talks to Diana Bentley

A statutory entity can only operate in accordance with its enabling statute. A considerable amount of activity in Ireland is carried on through statutory entities controlled by the state but operating in the commercial sector. From time to time legislative amendments are required to ensure that the borrowing powers and capital financing requirements of these entities keep pace with commercial developments. The latest piece of such legislation the Borrowing Powers of Certain Bodies Act, 1966 which came into force on August 1 1996. In particular it increased the borrowing limit of ACC Bank plc.

The concept of lending money is relevant to a number of pieces of legislation in Australia and can be either the trigger for the imposition of restrictions or the basis of exemptions.

A bill on the legislative framework for the National Securities Centre was recently published by the Finnish government. Under the proposal, legislation on the book-entry securities system would also be amended.

A recent change in policy by the Central Bank of Cyprus means it is now possible to establish Administered Banking Units (ABUs) on the island. Applicant banks should be licensed in jurisdictions which exercise proper licensing and banking supervision. In addition, the prospective applicant banks must be institutions enjoying a good reputation internationally and which have an established track record of growth and profitable operation.

Resolution No. 58/3/96 of the Board of Directors of the Central Bank concerning the regulation of finance companies (Resolution 58) was promulgated under the authority set forth in Articles 114 to 119 of the Central Bank Law, which pertain to Financial Corporations (mu'assasat maliyyah). Article 114 of the Central Bank Law defines Financial Corporations as those institutions whose principal functions are to extend credit, to carry out financial transactions, to take part in the financing of existing or planned projects, to invest in movable property and such other functions as may be specified by the Central Bank. Financial Corporations may not accept funds in the form of deposits but may borrow from their head offices, from local and foreign banks, or from financial markets.

The lack of an international insolvency regime is a glaring anachronism in the era of global markets. While regulators are getting their act together, private initiatives offer the best alternative. By Daniel Cunningham and Thomas Werlen of Cravath, Swaine & Moore, New York