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Panagiotis Drakopoulos Evangelos Margaritis Lately, domestic and international financial and corporate players have been looking to the Athens Exchange for safe yet high return investment opportunities in Greece and south east Europe. They are seeking to make takeover bids on securities of companies established in Greece and listed on the local exchange with significant presence in the wider region. It is common knowledge that M&As are the most transparent and efficient way to gain control of the desired target company, following a public offer on all or a part of the target's capital. However, this does not seem to be their unique advantage in the Greek legal order. The speed of their conclusion, with an average duration of two months, allows the investor to begin their business quickly and efficiently. The investor will be in a position to choose a board of his own preference within a few days of the expiry of the public offer, and to focus on what matters: building the business. The Greek legal framework on takeover bids (mainly 3461/2006 as in force – the Law) harmonises local law with the relevant EU Directive 2004/25/EC. The Law distinguishes between mandatory and voluntary offers. The former is necessary whenever an investor gains direct or indirect control of more than a third of the voting rights in a company, and as a result the control of that company. In this case, the investor is obliged, within 20 days of the acquisition, to make a public offer (mandatory bid) for the remaining shares of the company. The same obligation lies with every shareholder who holds more than a third but less than half of the voting rights of the target company, if within six months said shareholder acquires (alone or with others), securities of the target company which represent more than three percent of the voting rights. Voluntary offers can be submitted at any time, and refer not only to voting, but also to non-voting shares. The bidder can stipulate a minimum and a maximum quantity of shares that the bidder is willing to acquire.

Law Decree 145 of December 23 2013, converted into law with amendments by Law 9 of February 21 2014, (Decree 145) has introduced wide-ranging amendments to Law 130 of April 30 1999 (the Securitisation Law). The five most relevant amendments are discussed below.

Statutory amendments taking effect in May give investment funds greater scope when investing in the African region. These are the soon-to-be-available structuring tools

A draft law promises to revamp the country's public-private partnership regime. Gide Loyrette Nouel's Mariam Rouissi analyses the funding opportunities that will follow

The incoming UK framework increases the accountability of individuals at the top of financial services firms. Harry Edwards of Herbert Smith Freehills assesses the regulators’ and market’s key considerations under the new rules

Hogan Lovells' Alex Sciannaca and Giles Hutt analyse the steps being taken by the US and EU to implement the global convention on choice of law agreements

On March 21 the Commission extended the US regulatory relief granted to EU multilateral trading facilities until May 14, and announced imminent modifications to its proposed regime for Qualifying MTFs

João Nuno Riquito and Bruno Almeida of Riquito Advogados navigate the network of interests and rules that arise in cross-border mergers involving Macau

The success of IPOs often hinges on the cornerstone investors involved. But standards are slipping and the HKEx must intervene

Indonesia’s new free float requirement is intended to boost market liquidity, but regulators may be unable to enforce penalties against non-complying companies