LATEST ANALYSIS
October 2011
31 Oct 2011
The "Arab Spring" will bring more Foreign Corrupt Practices Act cases because new regimes wanting to discredit the ones they overthrew can provide…
30 Oct 2011
The Dubai Financial Services Authority will require Islamic financial institutions to migrate to International Financial Reporting Standards…
27 Oct 2011
China-based Global Pharm Holdings is double-dipping into debt offerings on U.S. capital markets. Specializing in the distribution of traditional Chinese medicine products to…
27 Oct 2011
Oracle’s on cloud-nine with its acquisition of cloud-based customer service provider Right Now Technologies for $1.5 billion…
27 Oct 2011
The bid by consortium Maple Group to acquire the owner of the Toronto Stock Exchange has entered a critical stage, with regulatory reviews well underway on several fronts…
27 Oct 2011
A cross-border investigation by U.S. regulators into fraud allegations involving U.S.-listed China-based companies has put professional advisors and consultants into a pot of…
27 Oct 2011
Merger fever is heating up stock exchange M&A as the craving for trading venue acquisitions spreads around the world like the financial contagions stock markets host and fear so much. Despite the mediocre attempts of Western exchanges…
27 Oct 2011
Massachusetts-based Cubist Pharmaceuticals will acquire Adolor Corp. of Exton, Pennsylvania, in a transaction valued at $415 million…
27 Oct 2011
In its third-largest fine of this year, the UK’s Financial Services Authority (FSA) has fined Credit Suisse UK £5.95 million for systems and controls failings in relation to £1 billion worth of sales by its private bank of complex financial products…
27 Oct 2011
The rescue and dismantlement of Dexia puts into tighter focus not only the risks relating to companies themselves, but also the critical element of counterparty risk…
27 Oct 2011
The U.S. government has come down on Rajat Gupta,with a six-count indictment and a civil complaint filed in the Southern District of New York…
27 Oct 2011
Postmedia Network has agreed to sell its community newspapers in British Columbia, along with Victoria’s Times Colonist and related digital media and real estate assets, to Glacier Media of Vancouver. The purchase price is $86.5 million…
27 Oct 2011
The regulation of shadow banking must be focused, proportionate, forward-looking and adaptable to emerging risks, and should balance…
25 Oct 2011
Last week added another riveting act to the drama that has been unfolding in Greece and much of the Eurozone over the past several years…
25 Oct 2011
Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) revealed for the first time that it is taking legal action to recover losses stemming from alleged fraudulent contracts involving…
25 Oct 2011
Political, economic and technological events have converged to create what are potentially some of the most dynamic developments the energy industry has seen in decades…
25 Oct 2011
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has been increasing its scrutiny of individuals in the wake of the financial crisis, and its investigations can lead to enforcement actions against members of a firm…
25 Oct 2011
Shanda Interactive Entertainment, one of China’s internet wonders, has left many of its U.S. shareholders wondering how long they can hold on to this piece of the PRC internet…
25 Oct 2011
Mattel has opened its toy chest full of cash to acquire HIT Entertainment from PE firm Apax Partners in an all-cash, cross-border transaction valued at $680 million…
25 Oct 2011
The Ontario Securities Commission has issued a proposal to implement several initiatives intended to enhance the Commission’s enforcement regime. Of particular note, the OSC is recommending the adoption of “no-enforcement action” agreements…
25 Oct 2011
The European Commission’s tough new rules, Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II (MiFID II), are being hotly debated in Europe as the EU seeks to reduce systemic risk, build investor confidence and reduce “market disorder”…
25 Oct 2011
While thousands occupy Wall St. and make do without “gym, tan or laundry”, Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi has conquered the Street in her own way…
25 Oct 2011
BHP Billiton, the Anglo-Australian mining company, has filed details of its recently approved long term incentive plan (LTIP) and it contains a gold mine of incentives for senior directors…
25 Oct 2011
Cara Operations Limited has agreed to acquire Prime Restaurants of Mississauga in an all-cash deal worth $58.9 million. The transaction will consolidate many of Canada’s best known restaurant chains under one owner…
25 Oct 2011
PerkinElmer, hoping to entice bond buyers, has offered notes to fund the company’s $600 million acquisition of Caliper Life Sciences…
25 Oct 2011
After more than a decade of discussion, dusting off the final touches to Hong Kong’s Competition Bill is proving harder than the city’s lawmakers envisioned. The first of its kind for Hong Kong…
25 Oct 2011
Ventas, the Chicago-based healthcare REIT has doubled down on a new credit facility…
25 Oct 2011
With restlessness in the credit markets, borrowers are learning to accept tightening negative covenants as a fact of life in negotiating their credit facilities…
20 Oct 2011
In a recent decision issued in the Lehman Brothers Inc. SIPA proceeding in the Southern District of New York, In re Lehman Brothers Inc., Case No. 08-01420…
20 Oct 2011
Vancouver based gold producer B2Gold Corp. is expanding its geographic focus to include Africa, having signed a binding letter agreement to acquire Auryx Gold…
20 Oct 2011
The UK’s Financial Reporting Council (FRC) is stepping up its offensive in the battle for boardroom equality, as it announced that it intends to amend its corporate governance code to require greater boardroom diversity…
20 Oct 2011
Gas isn’t the only thing flowing for Noble Energy as the Houston-based company has pumped up a $3 billion credit facility…
20 Oct 2011
After gaining shareholder approval for a proposed spin-off earlier this month, PCCW Ltd is the talk of the town in Hong Kong. Armies of scrambling lawyers, bankers and regulators…
20 Oct 2011
As the number one silver-producing country in the world and a major producer of copper and gold, Mexico is a natural target for mining companies globally. Canadian mining companies, in particular…
20 Oct 2011
First Data has registered $3 billion in notes the company will offer to exchange for those issued last December in a private placement…
20 Oct 2011
Directors and officers of some SEC filers are taking steps to protect themselves in response to intensifying investigations into a spate of accounting scandals at U.S.-listed…
20 Oct 2011
Google’s high-profile acquisition of Motorola Mobility faces numerous challenges, including from competition authorities both in the U.S. and abroad…
20 Oct 2011
Waterman Group has agreed to the sale and leaseback of its Pickfords Wharf London property to GMS Estates Limited for £11.91 million in cash according to regulatory filings…
20 Oct 2011
Legal professionals have endorsed HSBC Private Bank's victory against a $300 million claim from a wealthy individual which, had it lost…
19 Oct 2011
Asia is the second most likely region for individuals to face prosecution under the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act…
18 Oct 2011
Dow Chemical has cooked up a $20 billion joint venture with Saudi Aramco…
18 Oct 2011
TimeWarner’s channeling a billion dollars of new debt into its own box office with a mixed offering of notes and debentures…
18 Oct 2011
Still paddling to return to its pre-crisis prowess, AIG gets a lifeline in the form of a $4.5 billion credit facility…
18 Oct 2011
Plastic fantastic securitisations continue to grow as HSBC, jumping on the recent interest in credit card securitisations, announced plans to issue £350 million of credit card receivables…
18 Oct 2011
U.S. regulators are catching on to the risk and legal perils of variable interest entities, an investment vehicle commonly found in the structure of many overseas listed Chinese companies…
18 Oct 2011
In an era of chat-speak, text messaging and Twitter, a 300 page prospectus full of jargon and run-on sentences would seem a relic of bygone times…
18 Oct 2011
Banking lawyers can be forgiven if they’re not returning calls right away: they’re busy trying to digest the Volcker Rule…
18 Oct 2011
Australia’s competition watchdog, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has been stumped in courtroom battles with multinationals. Unable to…
18 Oct 2011
Earlier this summer, Canaccord Financial announced it had entered into an agreement to acquire 50 percent of Australia-based boutique advisory firm BGF Equities, in a deal valued at approximately $41.6 million. Canaccord has now filed...
18 Oct 2011
With low interest rates and a healthy investor appetite for returns on investments, covenant-lite deals are fully in play…
18 Oct 2011
Regulators in Hong Kong have released a proposal for a slimmed-down regulatory regime for over-the-counter derivatives…
13 Oct 2011
The beers are on Anheuser-Busch InBev as the Euro-American brewmaster has a billion-dollar tab as a result of its latest notes offering…
13 Oct 2011
Circuits are flashing along the Northern Virginia tech corridor as NeuStar, Inc. has agreed to acquire Targus Information Corp. for $650 million…
13 Oct 2011
PCCW, Hong Kong’s leading phone company, is one step closer to implementing plans to list its telecommunications unit as a business trust in the special administrative region…
13 Oct 2011
Wisconsin-based Kohl’s will pump $650 million into the Dairy State’s economy in the form of senior notes…
13 Oct 2011
In a cross-border deal reaching from Africa through Ireland to the U.S., Vedanta has filed details of its Linklaters drafted three way locked box acquisition of Anglo American’s zinc mines in Namibia, South Africa and Ireland for…
13 Oct 2011
The credit ratings agencies have gotten the once-over from the SEC staff in a report that gives their subjects a mixed review…
13 Oct 2011
A new $2.5 billion credit facility should give Best Buy’s capital structure a boost before the holiday shopping season begins…
13 Oct 2011
The renminbi, China’s national currency, has been caught in an intense game of regulatory hot potato lately. In addition to occupying center stage as the subject of a currency bill…
13 Oct 2011
The Toronto Stock Exchange is proposing to do away with slate voting and staggered elections by listed companies…
13 Oct 2011
Packaged ice distributor Arctic Glacier Income Fund may find itself with several new trustees unless the Fund’s ongoing financing and strategic alternatives review can pull out a last minute deal…
13 Oct 2011
The contrasting legislative fortunes of online gambling companies were played out across Europe and the U.S. recently, as the EU softened its rules to attract more players whilst the U.S. took a hard line on rogue gambling companies…
13 Oct 2011
A stipulated settlement filed in Delaware Chancery Court underscores the fragile vulnerability of stapled financing…
12 Oct 2011
The Bursa Malaysia Securities is on course to raise standards on corporate disclosure with the latest amendments to its listing rules and the release…
11 Oct 2011
Global M&A activity is off to a slower-than-usual start in the second half 2011, but this does not necessarily mean less work for M&A lawyers, according to Thomson Reuters’ M&A Trends & Insight report for Q3 2011…
11 Oct 2011
As credit markets continue to exhibit unease in the second half of 2011, corporate borrowers are facing enhanced scrutiny over reps and warranties related to asset quality, material adverse events and solvency…
11 Oct 2011
The growing use of suspicious corporate structures was brought to light of late when Singapore bested Hong Kong as the light-touch location of choice for Manchester United’s much touted two-tier IPO. Taking a leaf out of News Corp’s book…
11 Oct 2011
Massachusetts-based Nuance Communications has swooped in to Swype up a rival…
11 Oct 2011
Corby Distilleries has agreed to sell seventeen liquor brands, as well as the Montreal-based manufacturing and bottling facility where many of the brands are produced, to privately-held Sazerac Company of New Orleans…
11 Oct 2011
British BG Energy followed on from its inaugural entrance to the US debt markets in December when it found a home for a further $3 billion of global guaranteed notes in the U.S. and the UK…
11 Oct 2011
Darden Restaurants will serve up a sizzling $400 million in senior notes. Parent of such casual dining mainstays as Red Lobster, Longhorn Steakhouse and the Olive Garden…
11 Oct 2011
Suddenly sluggish IPO markets in parts of South East Asia have spurred M&A activity in Singapore, offering a little something for both buyers and sellers…
11 Oct 2011
Asia-focused SPACs are twiddling their thumbs in the Caribbean amidst a slowdown in M&A activity this quarter. Initially formed to snap up promising projects…
11 Oct 2011
With serious allegations of accounting fraud being made against a number of China-related issuers based in Canada, it seemed inevitable that someone would cry libel. That someone has turned out to be Silvercorp Metals…
11 Oct 2011
Angelo, Gordon continues to diversify, acquiring Pennsylvania-based C&D Technologies, Inc. Already a stakeholder in a broad palette of interests from funds, to newspapers to residential water heater rentals…
11 Oct 2011
Amidst the current global economic uncertainty, Canada’s economy has remained relatively strong, bolstered in part by a robust commodities sector…
10 Oct 2011
The role of directors of offshore hedge funds has often been, at best, a limited oversight one, with perfunctory meetings and a limited interchange…
6 Oct 2011
The recent hostile bid by Wi-Lan for Ottawa’s MOSAID has highlighted the involvement of Canadian companies in at least one aspect of the lucrative business of intellectual property licensing – a business that certainly has its detractors…
6 Oct 2011
Shortly following the unceremonious dismissal of its chief executive officer, Carol Bartz, Yahoo is being swarmed upon from all angles. International investors and private equity firms…
6 Oct 2011
Another chapter in the history of poison pills closes following a comprehensive settlement between Selectica and Versata Enterprises…
6 Oct 2011
Medgenics Inc. has amended its Code of Ethics to include an express provision detailing the company’s Anti-Corruption and Bribery Policy …
6 Oct 2011
AK Steel, the Ohio-based manufacturer of flat-rolled steels and tubular products, not only inked a $300 million joint venture agreement with Magnetation, Inc., but announced that it will acquire Solar Fuel Company, Inc., as well…
6 Oct 2011
Nordstrom will enter the holiday shopping season wrapped in a new $500 million notes offering…
6 Oct 2011
A number of brewing storms have led to increased pessimism towards China’s ability to sustain robust growth in many market sectors…
6 Oct 2011
An unprecedented last-minute rush for companies in the solar, wind, biofuel, and geothermal energy fields was unfolding in Washington to finalize billions of dollars in loan guarantees…
6 Oct 2011
It’s been nearly two years since Dubai World’s market-rocking debt moratorium announcement, but what that means for future offerings remains hard to pin down…
6 Oct 2011
Dancing the American two-step (securitisation) with its credit card receivables has been ultra-British Barclays which has strayed away from the more British one-step ecuritisation in favour of the American two-step structure…
6 Oct 2011
The growing level of uncertainty in the global marketplace and increasing complexity in many sectors -- due to factors ranging from volatile currency markets and continued…
6 Oct 2011
Gold-focused royalty and metal stream company Franco-Nevada continues to stock up on assets, most recently entering into an agreement to acquire Lumina Royalty of Vancouver for $66 million…
4 Oct 2011
Canadian gold producer Agnico-Eagle Mines is making a friendly bid to acquire junior Grayd Resource in a deal valued at approximately $275 million…
4 Oct 2011
Huddled masses of $400 million in senior notes from Ireland’s XL Group Plc have sailed west to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange…
4 Oct 2011
Even though credit terms have loosened since the depths of the credit crisis, some provisions in credit agreements, such as CDS linked interest rates, LIBOR floors, and original issue discounts are now becoming market standard...
4 Oct 2011
Fortune Brands will gain a modest fortune as it parts with one of its brands as the Illinois-based conglomerate spins off its Home & Security division…
4 Oct 2011
The Russian state asset pageant continued in Europe recently as VTB Capital, the state-backed Russian Bank, offered investors a chance to invest not in Russian companies but in their likelihood of bankruptcy…
4 Oct 2011
Less marine bird than phoenix, Seahawk Drilling is rising from the ashes of Chapter 11…
4 Oct 2011
Mixed signals from Wall Street may scare off investors, but the orders from the boardroom have clamored in one direction: Buy…
4 Oct 2011
A recent court ruling in the case Abdula v. Canadian Solar may have opened the door a bit wider to securities lawsuits in Canada against companies listed only in the U.S…
4 Oct 2011
The pornography industry may soon be paying dividends for litigators, as companies seek out legal advice to do battle over sexually explicit domain names…
3 Oct 2011
Sustainability and shared responsibility of stakeholders should be two key aspects underpinning sound corporate governance, regulators told the second Pan-Asian…