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TozziniFreire's Marta Viegas and Oduvaldo Lara Júnior explain how minority shareholders are capitalising on their improved rights. It makes the country a strong contender to be activist investors’ next frontier

The country's restrictions on promoting offshore products are vague at best. Here’s how foreign marketers can solicit investors, without falling foul of the rules

Volumes in Europe are up this year. But trading issues are damaging liquidity, and hampering the market’s full revival

Strong equity markets have prompted sellers to consider parallel exit routes. But as By Herbert Smith Freehills' Philippa Stone and Nick Baker explain, running two deals at once prompts legal challenges

The country's financial sector must address its large volume of non-performing loans. Gianni Origoni Grippo's Giuseppe Schiavello analyses a recent reform that could make it easier for banks to offload these portfolios

Pedro Cortés Marta Mourão Teixeira The eighth Tourism Ministerial Meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) was held in Macau, with the Macau SAR acting both as host and observer. Thirteen years after a similar conference took place in the People's Republic of China (PRC), Macau welcomed several tourism ministers and representatives of the 21 member economies of APEC, aiming to further enhance tourism in the Asia-Pacific region, where there are 22 of the 30 busiest airports in the world.

Azleen Mohammed Saleh The guidelines on sukuk and private debt securities in Malaysia were recently revised and took effect on August 28 2014. One of the revisions made was on the tradability and transferability of unrated sukuk and private debt securities. Effective from January 1 2015, unrated sukuk and unrated private debt securities may be traded and transferred provided that: (i) they have been in the market for at least two years; (ii) they are offered only to sophisticated investors; and (iii) the requirements for revision of principal terms and conditions as specified under the guidelines on sukuk or private debt securities have been complied with. Alternatively, for rated sukuk and rated private debt securities, the issuer may discontinue the credit rating of the sukuk or the private debt securities and maintain their tradability and transferability provided that: (i) they have been in the market for at least two years; (ii) they are offered only to sophisticated investors; (iii) the requirements for revision of principal terms and conditions as specified under the guidelines on sukuk or private debt securities have been complied with; and (iv) at least one annual rating review has been completed after January 1 2015.

Terje Gulbrandsen Ketil Sellæg Ramberg Personal data and privacy law issues raise a number of issues in a company's day-to-day business and may be significant in many transactions. That being said, personal data issues have not played an important role in M&A, although they may turn out to be more important than previously thought. As a means of guidance, and not as an exhaustive list, the following checklist may be useful in your next transaction; either as seller in preparation of a future sale, or as buyer when performing due diligence. Is the company a data processor that is obliged to obtain a licence from the local data protection authority, or will a notification to the relevant authority be sufficient? If the company is obliged to have a licence, it is important to review this licence. Is the company handling sensitive data (health data, trade union membership, racial or ethnic origin, sex life, information with regards to criminal acts) or just regular personal data (information that may be linked to a natural person)? Does the company have a security strategy and how is the company handling their internal control? Does the company have any security zones? If so, how is access granted and denied? Is it possible to track such access? Has the company entered into any data processor agreements? Has the company performed a security audit? If so, were any discrepancies discovered? Has the company been subject to review from the local data protection authorities? If so, any report from such a review should be provided. Has the company entered into agreements with regards to the transfer of personal data to third countries? Is aggregated data or big data in some form used in the business? If so, is the data properly anonymised or would it be possible to re-identify the data subject? If not, how is the data subject's consent obtained and kept? Is customer data used in the business? If so, how is the data subject's consent obtained and kept? If the company is developing internal systems, is the company complying with privacy by design guidelines? Is the company storing internal or external data in the cloud? How are security measures taken? Is the company certain that personal data stored in the cloud is kept in the country or is the personal data transferred to third countries? Does the company have a data protection officer? Terje Gulbrandsen and Ketil Sellæg Ramberg

Ha Hoang Loc Under existing regulations, for shares or equity acquisition between offshore buyers and domestic shareholders of a 100% Vietnamese target company, payment for the acquisition should be made in Vietnam directly between the parties. However, the above payment scheme may no longer be acceptable. On August 11 2014, the State Bank of Vietnam issued Circular 19/2014/TT-NHNN (Circular 19) which will take effect from September 22 2014. Accordingly, if an offshore buyer acquires existing shares or equity from Vietnamese shareholders and directly participates in management and operation of the target company post-completion, they may have to make payment through one of the following channels.

Debevoise & Plimpton's James Scoville and Vera Losonci explain why an increasing number of foreign companies are using American Depositary Receipts to tap US investors