LATEST ANALYSIS
December 2011
28 Dec 2011
This year capital markets around the world ran the full gauntlet of investor emotions from the highs of social media valuations to the Dickensian lows of sovereign debt fears…
28 Dec 2011
M&A covenant packages generally stay consistent from deal to deal, but transactional lawyers should be aware that the current economic instability in the markets may facilitate the need for provisions in relation to business value leakage…
28 Dec 2011
The compliance and accounting departments of Chinese companies listed overseas are bracing for an even tougher year ahead. Within the past 12 months, Chinese companies…
28 Dec 2011
As global economies continue to sputter, businesses are relying heavily on lean supply chains and just-in-time inventory programs to manage costs. Such programs, however, are not without their risks…
28 Dec 2011
In a deal which is being touted as a boon to the Greek economy, Canadian company Eldorado Gold has agreed to acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of European Goldfields, in a deal valued at approximately $2.5 billion…
28 Dec 2011
Two Japanese hotel conglomerates are hoping that a marriage of REITs will boost their individual share prices in the New Year…
28 Dec 2011
On December 21, 2011, the Securities and Exchange Commission adopted amendments to the definition of “accredited investor” under Regulation D…
27 Dec 2011
Calgary’s Whitecap Resources is acquiring junior oil and gas company Compass Petroleum, in a deal valued at approximately $98 million…
26 Dec 2011
Indian mobile phone carrier Reliance Communications is in the final stages of talks with private equity firms Carlyle and Blackstone to sell its tower unit...
23 Dec 2011
The international legal landscape for anti-bribery and corruption is getting more complex as countries take steps to patch gaps in their domestic legislations...
22 Dec 2011
Insiders at a clean-tech company might not have been able to gasify coal, but the SEC will make sure they get a stocking-full of it anyway…
21 Dec 2011
Business Law Currents takes a closer look at the global disclosure picture in 2011, highlighting this year’s trends, developments, concerns and challenges…
21 Dec 2011
With improved acquisition finance markets and a strong need to deploy capital, large corporates and private equity funds have been active in 2011…
21 Dec 2011
Several recently adopted rules in the U.S. are going into effect for specific types of firms in 2012. These rules include ones released by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Federal Reserve, issued to implement the Dodd-Frank Act...
21 Dec 2011
Energy infrastructure company Veresen has agreed to acquire the Hythe/Steeprock midstream gas gathering and processing complex from Encana Corporation for aggregate consideration of $920.0 million…
21 Dec 2011
Financial institutions in Hong Kong have received an early holiday blessing from regulators in mainland China. Late last week, the China Securities Regulatory Commission…
21 Dec 2011
The SEC has welcomed former Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac executives to the firing line with the filing of civil actions for securities fraud in federal district court…
21 Dec 2011
NDS Group Holdings has filed for a U.S. IPO, as it hopes to raise $100 million in its spin-off from beleaguered publishing group News Corp…
21 Dec 2011
Chinese mining company Yanzhou Coal is moving in on its proposed acquisition of Gloucester Coal. Valuing the Australian miner at US$ 2 billion…
21 Dec 2011
Directors and officers insurance may be declawing clawbacks. Allowing regulators to recoup bosses’ undeserved rewards is central to U.S. financial reforms. But in addition...
21 Dec 2011
I was recently involved in a case brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission to revoke the registration of a company’s common stock. But the company’s publicly held common stock had been revoked by a bankruptcy court order issued some seven years before...
20 Dec 2011
The bankruptcy trustee for collapsed U.S. brokerage firm MF Global Inc. is looking into how the firm re-pledged customer collateral as part of its search for $1.2 billion...
20 Dec 2011
Lam Research Corp. has circuits buzzing in Silicon Valley with its $3.3 billion acquisition of San Jose-based Novellus Systems…
20 Dec 2011
Companies continue to stuff their stockings with new credit facilities, as Norfolk Southern, Raytheon and distiller Beam, Inc., have filed credit agreements totaling nearly $3 billion…
20 Dec 2011
The troubled waters of the Gulf of Mexico have been smoothed somewhat by Cameron International’s $250 million settlement with BP…
19 Dec 2011
Have MF Global's clients suffered an action replay of the collapse of Lehman Brothers? That's the intriguing question posed by the broker's demise...
15 Dec 2011
There may have been very few UK debt offerings made lately, but precious gold offerings have been shining bright and gold has even become the payment method of choice for some…
15 Dec 2011
Eastman Chemical will roll $750 million through its Kingsport, Tennessee, headquarters in the form of a new five-year credit facility…
15 Dec 2011
The extra-territorial reach of new regulations such as the Volcker Rule is expected to give foreign regulators an increasingly larger role in dictating how Asian banks conduct their business…
15 Dec 2011
Market and technological realities have shifted and when it comes to foreign issuers, the SEC has shifted with them…
15 Dec 2011
Troubled executives should look on the bright side: at least they’ve not received the dreaded Wells Notice…
15 Dec 2011
Cigna has made the sorrow of parting a little sweeter for Bertram L. Scott, the company’s president of U.S. commercial markets…
15 Dec 2011
Luxury brand Michael Kors is aiming to change financial trends as well as fashion ones. The American apparel and lifestyle goods company recently…
15 Dec 2011
Pharma giant Baxter International will inject $500 million in fresh capital via a new notes offering…
15 Dec 2011
The relationship between employers and unions has been a rocky one in recent years, as concerns regarding stagnant wages, pension plans, executive compensation, and the like have resulted in a rise in tensions. Yet, for many public issuers, unions are a fact of life...
15 Dec 2011
The era of bank mega-mergers may be over in the UK. Last week, the Financial Services Authority released its eye watering report on the failure of the Royal Bank of Scotland…
15 Dec 2011
March Networks of Ottawa has entered into an agreement to be acquired by Shenzhen Infinova for approximately $90.1 million…
15 Dec 2011
Few topics in the practice of law generate as much discussion as alternative fee arrangements. While the potential benefits of AFAs are readily apparent and much-discussed, the potential risks are often less obvious…
14 Dec 2011
Banks have already started realigning themselves to the new reality of the Dodd-Frank Act. Despite some political pressure calling for repeal of the Act in 2012, Dodd-Frank will survive, and firms must be better prepared to deal with it.
13 Dec 2011
In a climate of market and deal uncertainty, companies are bullishly pursuing acquisitions by assuaging targets with ever higher reverse termination fees…
13 Dec 2011
As the 2012 proxy season nears for Canadian companies, one of the priorities for public issuers is to settle on a slate of directors for nomination. As part of that process, the regular lifecycle of boards dictates that one or more new nominees may be included…
13 Dec 2011
The dangers of offshore transactions were highlighted recently in a landmark English law case that demonstrated the reluctance of English courts to “pierce the corporate veil”…
13 Dec 2011
The NASDAQ OMX Group recently received approval from the SEC to launch its new listing market, the BX Venture Market. The BX Venture Market is intended to serve as a new listing alternative for early stage and smaller companies that do not qualify for a NASDAQ Capital Market listing…
13 Dec 2011
A hedge-fund manager that flouted short-sale restrictions had to disgorge its gains without being credited for losses on its violative trades, under a settlement the Securities and Exchange Commission announced…
13 Dec 2011
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission has charged four Chinese citizens with insider trading in the latest of an ongoing enforcement battle…
13 Dec 2011
Alamo Energy has formed a partnership with Northdown Energy to develop Alamo’s UK properties. Under the terms of the agreement, Alamo will farm out to Northdown a 45 per cent. working interest in its four onshore licence blocks…
13 Dec 2011
Europe’s largest producer of mined copper, KGHM Polska Miedź, is taking a leap into the Americas, with the proposed acquisition of Vancouver’s Quadra FNX Mining. The deal is valued at $3.4 billion, including the assumption of $500 million in debt…
13 Dec 2011
Significant credit facilities have been wrapped up on both sides of the Atlantic courtesy of Ireland’s XL Group and VF Corp. of Greensboro, North Carolina…
13 Dec 2011
A $3.75 billion notes offering will help Minnesota-based Ecolab clean up after its $5.4 billion Nalco acquisition party…
13 Dec 2011
Pairing up Western technology with ambitious Eastern capital is proving lucrative for the oil industry’s biggest multinational players. Chinese oil companies such as…
8 Dec 2011
Regulation is an important concern for foreign insurance companies operating in mainland China, according to a survey conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers…
8 Dec 2011
Assuming all goes according to plan, Chicago-based Equity Residential will scoop up a 26.5 percent interest in Archstone for a cool $1.35 billion in cash…
8 Dec 2011
Faced with volatile markets, uncertain credit and the wary eyes of investors and regulators alike, buyers and sellers continue to pay close attention to deal protection measures…
8 Dec 2011
Compliance officers need to be increasingly aware of the regulatory pitfalls associated with the burgeoning use of social media networks…
8 Dec 2011
The UK’s Financial Services Authority recently issued a consultation on guidance for non-executive directors on how they can better understand their role in ensuring retail customers are treated fairly…
8 Dec 2011
Montreal-based Distinction Group, which provides industrial janitorial, mechanical maintenance and other services to the commercial real estate industry, has agreed to be taken private by private equity firm Birch Hill Equity Partners…
8 Dec 2011
A fresh billion dollar notes offering will help
Viacom pay to keep VH1 and its other channels on the air for some time to come…
8 Dec 2011
Brazil’s petroleum powerhouse, Petrobras, will find more than a billion dollars stuffing its stocking this season, as it issues £700 million in global notes…
8 Dec 2011
Controversial arbitration has given rise to the recasting of a once-fragile merger between Skyworks Solutions and Advanced Analogic Technologies, Inc…
8 Dec 2011
Recent news that the lower house of the Australian parliament had passed the proposed Minerals Resource Rent Tax has not been well received by the industry…
8 Dec 2011
Given the precarious situation of European banks, a recent decision in New York federal court offers would-be creditors a timely wakeup call…
8 Dec 2011
Listing by introduction, which is a listing application that does not raise new funds or issue new shares, appears to have become the latest capital market trend in Hong Kong…
7 Dec 2011
Many of 2011’s high-profile mergers have felt the regulatory squeeze…
7 Dec 2011
Compliance officers should take time while the Volcker rule is pending to gather information about their firm’s trading activities to ensure…
6 Dec 2011
Senior corporate officials of businesses operating in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico are facing increased corporate governance responsibilities as these companies resume exploration and drilling activities under a new regulatory regime…
6 Dec 2011
Three private crude oil and natural gas companies are combining with TSX Venture-traded Seaview Energy in a four-way combination of Calgary based resource companies…
6 Dec 2011
A recent opinion from the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit should reassure employers worried about employee lawsuits alleging the imprudence of investing in company stock…
6 Dec 2011
A legal loophole in international brokerage rules means that few, if any, clients of MF Global are likely to get their money back…
6 Dec 2011
Amgen will head into 2012 with a new $2.5 billion revolving credit facility…
6 Dec 2011
Chow Tai Fook, a jewelry retailer controlled by New World Development chairman Cheng Yu-tung is aiming to claim bragging rights as the biggest initial public offering in…
6 Dec 2011
A $1 billion senior notes issue will energize Noble Energy’s acquisition of assets in the vaunted Marcellus shale …
6 Dec 2011
Israel’s international supermarketeer, Gazit-Globe Ltd., has registered 12 million shares for its U.S. IPO…
6 Dec 2011
China's foreign exchange watchdog, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, has recently issued new legislation on lending restrictions that are applicable to foreign-invested…
6 Dec 2011
FINRA and the OSC have entered into a memorandum of understanding to facilitate the exchange of regulatory information and investigative assistance with respect to regulated entities that operate across the U.S.-Canadian border…
6 Dec 2011
The Financial Services Authority has fined HSBC Bank plc £10.5 million for breaches of principle 9, as well as numerous breaches of…
1 Dec 2011
A nation-wide decline in prices and sales volumes of China’s residential real estate units is unsettling businesses beyond the property sector. A series of lending restrictions…
1 Dec 2011
The Canadian Securities Administrators have updated National Policy 11-201, renamed Electronic Delivery of Documents, to take into account changes in legislation and technology…
1 Dec 2011
With the aging global workforce, health is increasingly a bottom line issue for businesses. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that productivity losses related to personal and family health problems…
1 Dec 2011
Frozen seafood company High Liner Foods has agreed to acquire the U.S. subsidiary and Asian procurement operations of Reykjavik-based Icelandic Group for $230.6 million. The acquisition will make High Liner the largest value-added seafood supplier…
1 Dec 2011
Debt and capital market transactions are turning ugly as they show the stain of a growing liquidity and collateral squeeze. With markets behaving badly, are we about to see a credit crunch 2.0? A review of European filings has some troubling implications…
1 Dec 2011
Host Hotels & Resorts, L.P. will welcome in a new $1 billion credit facility…
1 Dec 2011
The once hemorrhaging monoline industry is in the midst of a reorganizational rebirth that could spell stability for the once rubbished business model…
1 Dec 2011
Scripps Networks Interactive is tuning into debt markets with a $500 million notes offering…
1 Dec 2011
After several months of negotiations, the China National Offshore Oil Corporation Ltd has closed its acquisition of bankrupt Calgary-based oil sands producer Opti Canada Ltd…
1 Dec 2011
Fraud, bribery and foreign intrigue are again heating up the docket in the Western District of Pennsylvania as Aluminium Bahrain claims Federal Civil RICO violations against Alcoa…