LATEST ANALYSIS
November 2010
29 Nov 2010
The SEC has proposed new rules affecting fund advisers, with venture capital funds benefitting from Congress’ new found appreciation of “systemic risk”...
29 Nov 2010
Government’s role in GM, AIG and TARP investments may be down, but it’s far from out. From GM to Greenhill, and from AIG to AnchorBank, the government looks set to continue its role as...
29 Nov 2010
Shale gas deals involving Exxon, Chevron, Chesapeake and others promise to create both “shale-ionnaires”…and a “fracking” mess. With issues from environmental damage to...
26 Nov 2010
Credit facilities play a critical part in capital-hungry REIT financing. These facilities have seen their terms shift somewhat, from rates (excitingly low) to reasonableness and restrictions...
26 Nov 2010
HiSoft, the venture-backed China tech company, is back for more cash. Its earlier backers include the likes of Draper Fisher Jurveston and GE Capital...
26 Nov 2010
Hostile M&A is big part of today’s takeover market, but many deals tend to go from swords to plowshares. Verifone Systems Inc and Hypercom Corporation, for example, have gone from hostilities to hugs...
25 Nov 2010
Riding high on the hog of securitized funding, Harley-Davidson will offer $600 million of asset-backed notes…
25 Nov 2010
International energy deals must be hot, when they fuel both global M&A markets and the merger of once-vaunted national law firms. Last week Norton Rose and Ogilvy Renault announced their alignment…
25 Nov 2010
Enamored with Chinese success stories, buyouts of U.S.-listed China-focused entities are on the rise. Led by management, private equity firms…
24 Nov 2010
Effective January 1, 2011, Canadian income trusts will be taxed as corporations, negating much of the advantage associated with the income trust structure. As a result, the second half of 2010 has seen a...
24 Nov 2010
Private equity dollars are continuing to cascade into troubled regional banks, while trust preferred shares cascade out. For the latest deal, look no further than Cascade Bancorp...
24 Nov 2010
Offshore legal entities and the deals routed through them are now on trial in an Indian courtroom. As if that were not enough, the fate of India as an international deal player may also…
23 Nov 2010
Providing rare insight into UK M&A deal protection documents, CSG Systems has filed details of its £236.7 million ($378.8 million) merger with Intec Telecom Systems, the UK telecommunications support company, as it seeks to create one of world’s largest…
23 Nov 2010
Increasing global demand for nickel, driven in large part by Chinese consumption of stainless steel, has...
22 Nov 2010
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday proposed several measures under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act on...
22 Nov 2010
Repackaging transactions can be a risky business, with “misdeeds” and often-opaque pricing realms recycling risk far beyond the subprime, as WestLB, the German bank, discovered to its embarrassment last week. A complex game of pass the parcel…
22 Nov 2010
GM has gone from the poorhouse to the penthouse with the largest U.S. IPO on record. The American automaker recently modified its IPO registration in order to take advantage of…
22 Nov 2010
Subprime litigation is leading to first class disclosure from some of the world’s biggest banks. Investors in subprime mortgage securities packaged, sold or serviced by...
22 Nov 2010
Dell’s cookie jars, kickbacks and financial restatements have roiled the company’s stock and lightened executives’ wallets. New SEC releases detailing the conclusion of civil charges against several Dell officers outline…
22 Nov 2010
AvalonBay Communities has been keeping lawyers busy with separate, simultaneous offerings of debt and equity…
21 Nov 2010
If capital is the fuel that keeps China’s market burning, then human talent is the power source that is responsible for sculpting the nation’s turbocharged economic development…
19 Nov 2010
Businesses have a symbiotic relationship with the environment. Either can impact the other, often with dramatic results. For the public issuer, such risks and exposures are...
19 Nov 2010
Not all REITs are created equal and REIT vintage, like that of wine, can tell you a lot. Younger players, like BioMed Realty Trust, discernibly smell of SPACs, seeking open-ended opportunity with...
19 Nov 2010
Despite PRC government-led cooling measures, China’s IFM Investments Ltd, the exclusive franchisor for real estate brand Century 21, continues to bask in profits…
19 Nov 2010
The rich get richer, as Brazil’s leading surety insurance business will get a $370 million boost from U.S. behemoth, The Travelers Companies…
19 Nov 2010
Naugatuck Valley Financial Corporation and Southern Connecticut’s planned merger has run into a regulatory road block. The two banks recently entered into a mutual termination agreement, after the proposed deal failed to gain regulatory approval...
18 Nov 2010
The Federal Reserve Board on Wednesday proposed a series of compliance extension deadlines for upcoming restrictions on proprietary trading and private fund investments by...
18 Nov 2010
Many corporations’ finances are living on borrowed time and money, but some are getting a reprieve in the form of amend and extend transactions…
18 Nov 2010
Greenshoes have become running shoes and GM's over-allotment option is but the most prominent, amidst its surprisingly overheated IPO…
18 Nov 2010
Apparel giant Hanes shows it’s a lot easier to exchange debt than underwear…
18 Nov 2010
China’s leading video streaming site, Youku.com, has submitted offering documents to U.S. securities regulators. Battling fierce competition from Tudou and state-owned giants…
17 Nov 2010
The UK is cracking down on corruption with a new anti-bribery law that will effectively flip the burden of proof from prosecutors to defendants in bribery cases. With almost a presumption of guilt, companies operating in the UK will need to…
17 Nov 2010
With hostile bids heating up M&A, it shouldn't surprise that the SEC's spotlights are getting hot as well. The Dell/3Par/HP three-way shooting match was subject to particular scrutiny, with...
17 Nov 2010
GeoGlobal Resources Inc, a North American oil and gas company, has filed joint operating agreements for two offshore Israel deepwater licences with more than a little legal residue of BP’s Macondo oil spill...
17 Nov 2010
With real estate markets in the U.S. and Europe lurching towards recovery, a large American private equity firm has placed a big bet that, up or down, there will be lots of activity in both markets...
17 Nov 2010
A forecast of rough sailing for the global shipping industry has provoked one smaller shipping business to tap into capital markets for help. New York listed Ship Finance…
17 Nov 2010
A cyberspace turf war in China is causing heavy collateral damage in the real corporate world. Internet users in the PRC and even Hong Kong are currently caught in the crossfire between…
16 Nov 2010
With investment funds being blown by the winds of global regulatory reform, public companies more broadly may yet catch cold…or worse. Dodd-Frank and the new European directive on...
16 Nov 2010
Certain shareholders have been animated lately about Disney’s executive compensation practices. Unite Here, a U.S. and Canadian labor union, introduced a proposal to limit the number of chances an executive gets to cash in on the company’s bonus plan…
16 Nov 2010
The FCPA has snagged another raft of companies between the rock of justice and the hard place of the global oil business. Oil services companies under FCPA scrutiny don’t just need good lawyers, they need travel agents…
16 Nov 2010
Mumtalakat, Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund, has pulled in $388 million after selling off 10% of Aluminium Bahrain in an IPO. The offering was listed on the Manama and London exchanges...
16 Nov 2010
Pulses are racing in Eagan, Minnesota, as Pennsylvania-based CardioNet, Inc. will finally pull off its merger with hometown heartthrob Biotel, Inc…
15 Nov 2010
Despite the efforts of some regulators to keep private equity funds out of banks, PE is nonetheless “breaking into” the banking market. Private equity firms have recently struck deals to purchase…
15 Nov 2010
A new EU hedge fund directive has redrawn the boundaries of hedge fund and private equity business in the EU, banning asset stripping and excessive leverage whilst shedding light on the gory details of remuneration and trading strategies…
15 Nov 2010
Real estate transactions may need some serious competition law landscaping in the UK, with the government expanding the remit of competition law to include land agreements…
15 Nov 2010
The spotlight on solar energy continues to brighten, and Day4 Energy is hoping to capitalize. Day4, a provider of solar photovoltaic products, recently announced that it has completed its acquisition of…
15 Nov 2010
Encouraged by the enthusiasm of U.S. investors, another offshore incorporated, China-focused company has filed for an initial public offering on the NYSE…
12 Nov 2010
A plan by the Financial Stability Board to impose stricter capital controls on financial institutions which pose a clear systemic risk to the global financial system is set to be...
12 Nov 2010
Flash memory chip maker Spansion exited Chapter 11 in May and is the latest company turning to the equity and high yield debt markets to buttress liquidity. The California-based company plans to use the bonds to repay its exit loan...
12 Nov 2010
The satellite technology of DigitalGlobe sees more than weather patterns: It’s watching the money roll in…
12 Nov 2010
Following through on a commitment from the 2010 federal budget, the Canadian Department of Finance recently proposed changes to the taxation of stock options. If implemented, the changes could require public issuers to...
12 Nov 2010
Beleaguered oil rig giant Transocean will pay more than $20 million in fines to settle charges that it violated the FCPA. The SEC had charged that Transocean, most famous for…
12 Nov 2010
With currency waves reverberating from the QEII being felt all the way out in cyberspace, China’s second largest internet portal operator, Sohu.com Inc, reminded its shareholders…
11 Nov 2010
In July 2003, AIM introduced an expedited admission route for companies already quoted on certain other exchanges (“quoted applicants”). The intention was to encourage more…
11 Nov 2010
The government's case against a former in-house lawyer at GlaxoSmithKline Plc could turn on the advice she received from an outside law firm -- and raises tricky attorney-client privilege questions...
11 Nov 2010
NASDAQ is fighting greenmail with tender offers. The exchange recently proposed rules designed to curtail abuse by hedge funds of SPACs’ share conversion rights, which…
11 Nov 2010
Even after a buyout is negotiated and inked, there can still be a final contractual hitch: debt commitment letters. Undergirding many leveraged buyouts, these letters can be deal breakers…
11 Nov 2010
Brazil’s recent regulatory moves suggest the emerging market should give way to maturing markets. Evincing an increasingly sophisticated regulatory regime, Brazil’s CVM…
11 Nov 2010
Specialist miner and retailer Harry Winston Diamond Corp has completed and filed its $100 million senior secured revolving facility with Standard Chartered Bank…
11 Nov 2010
Investors in Hong Kong have been continuously feasting on an expanded bond menu denominated in China’s currency, the renminbi. Since foreign issuers were permitted to…
11 Nov 2010
In a deal valued at $2.718 billion, Qatar Holding has drawn on its seemingly bottomless pool of cash to grab a 5% stake in Banco Santander…
11 Nov 2010
Dow Chemical has formulated a new $2.5 billion debt package. Barclays Capital Inc., BNP Paribas Securities Corp. and Deutsche Bank Securities…
10 Nov 2010
Sneaky share acquisitions are indeed in fashion with LVMH, the company behind Louis Vuitton and Moët Hennessy’s acquisition of a chic 14.2 per cent stake in Hermès International, the French luxury goods rival…
10 Nov 2010
Predatory lending is an amorphous term, yet it is squarely associated with unsavory residential lending practices. The charge can entangle even the most experienced real estate veterans on both sides of the lending fence…
10 Nov 2010
The Gray Lady has declared it time to refinance. The New York Times Company has offered $225 million in 6.625% senior notes due in 2016...
10 Nov 2010
Canada has sought to grease the wheels of Canadian international commerce with British pounds recently in what could be mistaken for a sovereign securitisation fund…
10 Nov 2010
Its IPO may be modest, but Wildcap Energy could be the new “big man on campus” in Tucson…
10 Nov 2010
Preferred shares have long found supporters among issuers and investors alike. Structured properly, such shares are...
10 Nov 2010
Citing “the public interest and the protection of investors,” the SEC temporarily halted trading in 8000, Inc…
9 Nov 2010
The Central Bank of Bahrain has issued a consultation paper on proposed conditions for licensing banks to provide regulated services. Of particular interest is the...
9 Nov 2010
Terra Firma’s lawsuit with Citigroup is a wide open window into English law private equity financing facilities, along with the gory details of Guy Hand’s spectacular fallout with Citigroup...
9 Nov 2010
When it comes to Energy M&A, big dollars don’t necessarily mean Big Oil...
9 Nov 2010
A new rule proposed by the SEC, with analogies to Rules 10(b) and 10-b 5, puts swaps on the same footing with other securities…
9 Nov 2010
SPAC activity remains an area to watch, as blank check entity Chardan Acquisition Corporation recently announced that it had merged with a PRC-headquartered…
8 Nov 2010
A newly expanded whistleblower program in the Dodd-Frank law has opened a fertile business opportunity for plaintiffs’ lawyers -- and sparked a feverish...
8 Nov 2010
Some of today’s largest joint ventures are turning into disjointed deals. Partnerships such as Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton’s iron ore production deal and Constellation EDF’s UniStar Nuclear Energy have recently...
8 Nov 2010
General Growth Properties has named its first post-bankruptcy CEO. According to GGP’s recently filed employment agreement, Sandeep Mathrani will receive a $1 million cash signing bonus in addition to…
8 Nov 2010
The OTC derivatives market has been fixed firmly on the global regulatory radar, with regulators in the U.S., UK, Europe and now Canada weighing in…
8 Nov 2010
Whether it is Goldman’s financial wizardry or Lehman-esque cross border clashes, CDOs seem to have a knack for ending up in litigation. With CDOs’ close link to subprime securitizations, the slew of litigation…
8 Nov 2010
P&F Industries has negotiated a host of agreements in crafting a new $22 million refinancing package…
5 Nov 2010
Canada’s federal government has thrown a monkey wrench into mining giant BHP Billiton’s plan to acquire Potash Corp of Saskatchewan. In the process, it has also left foreign investors wondering whether the ground rules…
5 Nov 2010
While GM’s IPO is grabbing all of the attention, the company has quietly snuck its $5 billion credit facility into the public domain too...
5 Nov 2010
China’s patent protection laws are once again in the spotlight, as invention heavy sectors such as pharmaceuticals, biotechnology and green energy continue to grow…
5 Nov 2010
Fabled film fixture Frederick’s of Hollywood has stripped off its wholesale division, Movie Star, in a $4.5 million sale…
5 Nov 2010
Board governance is getting a makeover, as companies work to get ahead of Dodd-Frank driven changes. Two companies in unrelated industries, Southwest Energy and publisher McGraw-Hill…
5 Nov 2010
Though the Chinese government has denied there will be a massive cut in export quotas for rare earth metals, the spectre has certainly caught the attention of governments and industries worldwide...
4 Nov 2010
The Securities and Exchange Commission unveiled 181 pages of proposed rules for a controversial new whistleblower program, striking a compromise between...
4 Nov 2010
Private equity continues its push into the banking sector, with two recent acquisitions and recapitalizations of troubled, mid-market banks…
4 Nov 2010
International hopefuls are eyeing Hong Kong’s capital markets, thirsting for some of the explosive IPO results enjoyed by the likes of the Agricultural Bank of China…
4 Nov 2010
Though the Deepwater Horizon oil spill may have attracted some unwanted attention to the offshore oil and gas industry, projects continue to spring up anew. Consider the recent $60 million offering by Canadian Overseas Petroleum…
4 Nov 2010
A recent English Court of Appeal case has demonstrated an Achilles’ heel in European Union (EU) trademark enforcement, suggesting that U.S. brand owners may face…
3 Nov 2010
The merger of Merrill Lynch and Bank of America is continuing behind the scenes and the thundering herd is throwing a bash. Merrill Lynch and...
3 Nov 2010
Credit markets are reviving and some borrowers are turning to asset-based financing. Companies such as Borders and Visteon are entering into new ABL agreements, while…
3 Nov 2010
In order to keep the oil taps flowing, Sinotech Energy, a servicer of China National Petroleum Corporation affiliates, is going public in the United States…
3 Nov 2010
Thanks to its booming economy, Brazil has become a fertile ground for acquisition-minded investors…
3 Nov 2010
South Carolina’s SCANA Corp. and Great Plains Energy have disclosed credit agreements that could collectively max out at over $3.6 billion...
3 Nov 2010
To suggest that a company might endure the offering process without an influx of funds may come across as sheer lunacy. Yet companies do it all the time, in the form of the non-offering prospectus…
3 Nov 2010
A $628 million stock sale by affiliates of the Royal Bank of Canada will morph into a coinsurance agreement between Protective Life and Liberty Life…
3 Nov 2010
In a rarely visible private acquisition in the UK, Filtronic plc, the mobile telecommunications company, has announced a reverse takeover offer for Isotek…
2 Nov 2010
In the latest chapter in the Bernard Madoff Saga, feeder fund Cohmad Securities Corp and its principals reached a partial settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission...
2 Nov 2010
A large number of global financial institutions and fund managers are intrigued by the possibility of raising a Shariah compliant fund targeting Middle Eastern investors...
2 Nov 2010
Private equity fund Apollo seems set for rocket-like returns through the impending IPO of once-bankrupt LBO survivor, LyondellBasell. The fund’s success via its distressed debt strategy stands in...
2 Nov 2010
Super PACs are a super tool in the hands of both corporations and hedge funds. The nagging matter of disclosure is not yet a concern...
2 Nov 2010
Texas-based Michaels Stores, an arts and crafts retailer, has gotten crafty with its debt. With owners as savvy as Blackstone Group and Bain Capital Partners…
2 Nov 2010
Royalties to the host state complicate energy deals and remain a subject of much dispute from Brazil to Israel, of all places...
2 Nov 2010
Total return swaps play a critical role in a credit fund being launched by Canadian innovator, Onex. In particular, Onex Credit Partners...
1 Nov 2010
Increased enforcement of the Federal Corrupt Practices Act is leading to a sharp rise in related shareholder lawsuits against public companies...
1 Nov 2010
Extended Stay’s lessons of bad boy indemnities seems to have been learned by others, including REIT player, Behringer Harvard. One key lesson when the going gets tough...
1 Nov 2010
Energy companies of both the traditional and alternative varieties seem certain to be affected by the upcoming vote on California’s Proposition 23…one way or another...
1 Nov 2010
A new UK “bank levy” may threaten banks operating in the UK, but the levy’s “loophole” has UK banks responding with a flurry of debt financings as a result...
1 Nov 2010
China wealth management has reached the shores of the U.S., with the imminent IPO of Noah Holdings. The “not quite regulated” nature of this space…
1 Nov 2010
Tainted milk and stinky drywall have put China’s producers in an unwanted legal limelight. This has led to product liability being addressed through three avenues…