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The Law Reform Commission has announced a plan that will give financially distressed companies the chance of avoiding insolvency proceedings by providing the company with a court-sanctioned moratorium from creditors while a provisional supervisor takes control of the company to restructure its debt.

Public equity markets are beginning to play an important role in infrastructure finance. Roger Dyer and Ian Harvey-Samuel of Freshfields, Singapore, discuss the guidelines for listing infrastructure project companies in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand

Jeremy Xiao, who in August became the first Chinese citizen to qualify as a Hong Kong solicitor, will become a partner in the Hong Kong office of UK firm Herbert Smith.

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.

• Clifford Chance's London office has lost its head of corporate finance, Peter Brooks. Brooks has left to become general counsel for one of his clients, Deutsche Morgan Grenfell. He has worked at Clifford Chance for 28 years.

The single market has promoted growth, employment and competition, but the EU still has some way to go towards meeting the target of creating a set of truly common rules. This is the theme of a major new report to be presented by the Commission at the next European Council meeting in December. The report took two years to complete and gives an overview of the impact and effectiveness of the single market since its inception nearly four years ago.

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 Limited Liability Partnerships (Jersey) Law is expected to come into force in the spring of 1997. The UK government has announced its intention to introduce similar legislation in Britain, thus demonstrating that it recognizes the liability issues now facing professional services organizations, and lending its support to the proponents of such legislation. The deputy vice-president of the Law Society, Michael Matthews, has stated that there is no policy reason why solicitors should not take advantage of Jersey's proposed limited liability partnerships.

Decree 1295 of 1996, enacted by the Colombian Government on July 24, approved several modifications to the international investment regime. The decree simplifies and expedites procedures and requirements in this area.

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.