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Following a series of crises in the country’s banking sector, and various attempts at reform, the Turkish government has at last made significant amendments to its banking law. Mehmet Irmak Canevi and Halide Çetinkaya of Derman Ortak Avukat Bürosu, Istanbul, examine the changes and ask if the government has finally got things right?

The UK’s Court of Appeal ruled last month that a bank can avoid payment on a performance bond if it has been acquired fraudulently. Paul Friedman and Philip Young of Baker & McKenzie, London, review the case and assess its implications for banks and bondholders

Fixed or floating? When examining a charge over a company’s uncollected book debts it is sometimes hard to say, but in June the UK Privy Council gave a new and helpful opinion in Brumark. Justin Bickle of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, London, examines the case and its implications

Alain Gauvin of Coudert Brothers, Paris, reviews the Peregrine/Robinson ruling and argues that market quotations are not sufficient when settling payments in such cases

Troubled German microchip-maker Infineon last month called in technology-focused Brobeck Hale & Dorr and Clifford Chance for a $1.4 billion secondary share offering in difficult market conditions. Infineon made the share offering in Germany and the US and through private placements to international institutional investors elsewhere on July 3. The 60 million share secondary offering in the US and Germany was priced at euro 25 ($21) a share.

On April 10 2001 the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) published a consultation paper reviewing the Codes on Takeovers and Mergers and Share Repurchases relating to public companies.

US firms act on Egyptian bond first The London offices of White & Case and Dewey Ballantine have advised on Egypt's first international bond issue.

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has acted for Deutsche Bank as arranger on the first French whole-business securitization to use a domestic special purpose vehicle (SPV). The euro 700 million ($590 million) Powerhouse Finance transaction is the first whole-business deal to use a domestic Fonds Commun de Créances (FCC). Previous securitization deals in France have used vehicles based in offshore jurisdictions such as Jersey or Ireland.

Latham & Watkins and Davis Polk & Wardwell have structured the $1.1 billion limited recourse financing for the Hamaca heavy oil production and upgrading project in Venezuela. The deal is the first heavy oil project since the Sincor-sponsored transaction in mid-1998, and marks renewed interest and confidence in the country.

European Commission officials are considering whether to block a hostile bid for Montedison. The Italian industrial group is the target of a $4.18 billion joint offer by the acquisitive French utility company Électricité de France (EDF) and Italian carmaker Fiat. The Commission's decision is a particularly difficult one because of the way in which Fiat and EDF have structured their bid. Both are bidding through their joint venture company Italenergia, which has no turnover, while Montedison itself gets two-thirds of its revenues from the Italian market. Under EU rules each merger partner has to have euro 250 million ($215 million) in more than one EU country. Whether the deal is a matter for Italian regulators or the Commission will depend on whether EU officials consider the assets of Fiat and EDF separately.