LATEST ANALYSIS
June 2010
30 Jun 2010
Propco-opco structures are a lot like the movie Casino: Both bring together gaming with refrigerated storage, and both are fraught with conflict...
30 Jun 2010
An agreement signed at the G20 summit last weekend between the Prime Ministers of Canada and India is expected to have a direct impact on deals between the two countries involving the sale of commodities, equipment and expertise...
30 Jun 2010
Fraud has gone social media, and the SEC is onto it. Pump & dump schemes have moved from the classified pages and spam e-mail to Facebook and Twitter…
30 Jun 2010
With BP as backdrop, deepwater drilling is gushing forward, incongruously driven by both Noble Corp and Judge Barton Feldman of Louisiana…
30 Jun 2010
The largest private equity deal of the year is one step closer to completion. Last week’s approval of Extended Stay’s disclosure statement by the bankruptcy court has paved the way for…
30 Jun 2010
Financial services disclosure has been of particular interest since the implosion of the global financial system...
30 Jun 2010
An oil spill webcam and Google Earth’s tracking of the spill’s progress in the Gulf have brought environmental concerns and liabilities to the forefront of at least one asset purchase agreement...
29 Jun 2010
The Bilski case, decided on June 28, 2010, has been closely followed around the world because of its potential impact on the standard for patentable subject matter and how this standard will affect companies involved in…
29 Jun 2010
Canadian investors have been sending mixed messages to public issuers over the past few months on topics such as corporate social responsibility and say on pay. Though some may have proven all bark…
29 Jun 2010
In a complex deal involving leading Canadian and U.S. pharma companies (and a who’s who of respective law firms), Canada’s Biovail Corp. has taken a big step up in the ranks of…
29 Jun 2010
Bankruptcy, even Chapter 11 reorganization, usually completely wipes out the company’s shareholders. But Smurfit Stone Container and…
28 Jun 2010
Venture capital heavyweights have recently placed their collective weight behind one IPO, that of Asian player HiSoft Technology International Limited…
28 Jun 2010
The specter of TARP and troublesome economic times are still haunting Bank of America. In a recently released SEC staff comment letter, several items…
28 Jun 2010
Showing off its bend toward innovation, Vishay Intertechnology, Inc., has just spun out its subsidiary Vishay Precision Group, Inc., onto the NYSE…
28 Jun 2010
If the value of lawyerly corporate structuring ever needed proof, the vortex of events sucking down BP is it. With asset sales and lawsuits by aggrieved shareholders like those of New York state’s pension fund…
28 Jun 2010
Earnouts may be either agreements to disagree or valuation bridges, but they certainly are drafting challenges. Despite this complexity, they've been featured in recent deals, among them...
28 Jun 2010
Playing ball in the UAE just got a little easier, as the Gulf nation recently announced a major policy shift in its defense contracting scheme...
25 Jun 2010
Williams-Sonoma is cooking up some new executive compensation agreements and perquisites. In recent regulatory filings, newly appointed...
25 Jun 2010
The Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac gravy train is slowing down, under the weight of delisting, conservatorship, and changes in their access to capital. Commercial real estate developers and REITs may find themselves hurting...
25 Jun 2010
AgBank’s highly anticipated IPO is turning China’s rural finances into cerebral fodder. Unique risk factors paired with newly minted legislative subsidies…
25 Jun 2010
As if successfully doing a global debt offering weren't hard enough, Royal Dutch Shell plc just did a debt doozy, involving three different legal jurisdictions…
25 Jun 2010
Real estate developers of Hong Kong’s roller-coaster property market may soon feel more pairs of eyes glaring at their backs and their books…
24 Jun 2010
Shareholders perk up sharply around any discussion of executive perks – and rumblings around these benefits have been increasing at companies like Abercrombie & Fitch…
24 Jun 2010
The joint venture is often touted as an effective way of pooling resources and tapping new markets without having to bet the house on an acquisition. How ironic, then, that JVs are a driving force behind M&A…
24 Jun 2010
The financial crisis has been attributed, in part, to flaws in incentive-based compensation practices, and their systemic impact. Regulators are fixin' to fix it. Toward that end...
24 Jun 2010
Europe may be on the road to recovery following a Greek financial contagion which almost brought it to its knees, but it appears that the contagion was not without its after effects...
24 Jun 2010
The troubled management-led buyout of Landry’s Restaurant has turned a corner and reached an agreement with Pershing Square and other investors…
24 Jun 2010
RRSat Global Communications Network Ltd. appears to have taken another step in shrinking the planet as it expands its networking capabilities around the world...
23 Jun 2010
BP’s burden continues to get heavier, with once-partner Anadarko now revealing potentially damaging terms of its JV with BP and over 200 lawsuits filed in U.S. federal courts to date…
23 Jun 2010
Whilst there seems to be a public perception that the bond market in the UK is closed to all but structured finance offerings, there are yet signs of life…
23 Jun 2010
Two more Calgary outfits are linking up as the consolidation of Western Canadian resource properties continues. Oil and gas player ARC Energy announced last week it is acquiring…
23 Jun 2010
Australia’s ‘super tax’ on its natural resource sector seems set to change the face of the industry, leading companies from BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and…
23 Jun 2010
If buybacks are any indication, then a corporate convalescence is in full swing. This uptick can be viewed as an increase in corporate confidence…
23 Jun 2010
The apparently boundless growth potentials of telecom and Islamic finance have come together in the fertile soil of Indonesia…
22 Jun 2010
MAC attacks are back, and material adverse event clause concerns along with them. The Delaware Chancery Court is dealing with this issue in litigation brought by...
22 Jun 2010
“Obama-care”-fueled private equity interest in healthcare keeps on rolling. The Blackstone majority owned Vanguard Health Systems’ acquisition of Detroit Medical Center has…
22 Jun 2010
It doesn’t attract the media attention of its wealthier, splashier or more controversial neighbors, but the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is nonetheless an important…
22 Jun 2010
Canadian toll road operator 407 International has pulled into the passing lane, announcing the issuance of nearly a billion dollars in new debt in order to pay out a series of notes…
22 Jun 2010
Riding restructuring's wave, surfing leader Quiksilver Inc. recently announced a $75 million capital stack rework, with a two-fer built in...
21 Jun 2010
Though the depths of the era of government bailouts may have past (at least in the U.S.), the ghosts of this aid live on, as evidenced by two separate dramas now unfolding…
21 Jun 2010
Consolidation on one side, new entrants on another… several recent events suggest there is continued optimism for the credit card industry in Canada. Yet new federal legislation has…
21 Jun 2010
The variable interest entity structure has been giving overseas companies a leg up when it comes to investing in restricted sectors of the PRC economy…
21 Jun 2010
Epiq Systems, a provider of technology solutions related to the administration of bankruptcy, litigation, financial transactions and regulatory compliance matters, is restructuring its own finances...
18 Jun 2010
Securitisations are back in the UK, but the landmark Lehman litigation may result in U.S. bank securitizations being all but eliminated. With AAA ratings mandated amidst the...
18 Jun 2010
China’s Anti-Monopoly Law has struck again, this time against the Opinions on Utilizing Foreign Investment, as set out by the State Council…
18 Jun 2010
Israeli generic pharmaceutical giant Teva filed a suitably gigantic $2.5 billion debt offering this week...
18 Jun 2010
The UK’s financial regulatory system received a shake up with the introduction of a powerful new regulator charged with preventing asset bubbles and managing systemic risk…
18 Jun 2010
Once the World Cup frenzy dissipates, South Africa will turn its attention back to the less electrifying fields of banking and finance...
18 Jun 2010
As the summer holiday looms close, gamers are rallying around Perfect World, which has been compared to Blizzard’s World of Warcraft and dubbed the next Farmville, after the original Facebook sensation…
17 Jun 2010
Think there is nothing so “crude” as making money from someone else’s misfortune? Not so, according to SGA Société Générale. It has issued call warrants on shares in BP plc under a securitised derivatives programme…
17 Jun 2010
CMBS tranches and special servicers make this round of real estate restructuring into a whole different ballgame from anything seen before. And, geez, is it complicated...
17 Jun 2010
Deal flow between companies based in Latin America’s hottest economy and the U.S. is picking up. Just this week, Brazilian food company Marfrig Alimentos announced an agreement to acquire...
17 Jun 2010
Technology M&A is white hot with recent deals from Hewlett Packard, IBM, and SAP. Now even Japan’s technology sector is heading stateside and prowling for acquisitions…
17 Jun 2010
Canadian regulators have introduced vast change in the oversight of public issuers over the past decade, but the downstream activities of issuers are often less visible to investors and other prying eyes…
17 Jun 2010
Proving one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, the recent reverse merger of TradeOn, Inc., offers another in a series of roadmaps for entrepreneurial companies to gain public listings...
16 Jun 2010
Jones Soda Co should crack open a case of the bubbly…soda that is. Earlier this week, Jones announced that it had secured an agreement for a $10 million equity line of credit with…
16 Jun 2010
Deal patterns and pace seem likely to change, as carried interest taxation changes motivate private equity like few other things could. Congress, bolstered by public anger at Wall Street, is poised to enact...
16 Jun 2010
While BP’s oil continues to spill into the Gulf of Mexico, PRC state-owned giants are also seeping deeper into the western oil scene…
16 Jun 2010
Relatively unscathed by the financial crisis, Canada’s banking sector continues to seek opportunities to raise funds in receptive U.S. and European markets. The Bank of Nova Scotia has entered into an…
16 Jun 2010
The FSA’s future may be uncertain in the UK, but that doesn’t seem to be holding it back. Even as the FSA hemorrhages senior staff and speculation grows over its future, the regulator is pushing forward with…
16 Jun 2010
Target has announced the voting results of its 2010 annual meeting. Shareholders enacted a slew of governance amendments proposed by...
15 Jun 2010
Merger and acquisition activity involving REITs has fallen off sharply from its peak in late 2007 when the availability of debt financing dried up...
15 Jun 2010
Currency swings have tempted retailers like Sears Canada to change the rules of the game in their tenuous love-hate dynamic with their suppliers. They've long been interdependent parties…
15 Jun 2010
China has come riding to the rescue of Canadian gold company Crystallex, which has been stuck in Venezuela's regulatory muck. From the terms of the agreement, it seems that Crystallex may have bet the farm...
15 Jun 2010
In a continued attempt to get out from under its credit default swap troubles, bond insurer Ambac Financial Group has just arrived at a settlement agreement with several of its counterparties...
14 Jun 2010
In what may be a sign of a new norm in executive perquisite levels, Abercrombie & Fitch Co recently scaled back the use of its aircraft by Chairman and CEO Michael Jeffries...
14 Jun 2010
Plucky Brits can still give acquisitive Amercians a run for their money, even though the UK is a land of few takeover defences. As both Raymarine and Chloride have recently proven, a target can still wield a few legalistic maneuvers in self defence…
14 Jun 2010
NYSE-listed, reverse merger success Tianyin Pharmaceutical is clearly looking to impress with both its financial success and its disclosure heft. With important financing, licensing and...
14 Jun 2010
Mid-market M&A is anything but middling. Cardinal Health, Hewlett Packard, and a pack of PE funds have all recently announced the acquisition of mid-market companies...
14 Jun 2010
Global communications and Israeli consolidation, just took another step forward with the $58 million acquisition of Israel’s TTI Team Telecom by PE-backed TEOCO Corporation...
11 Jun 2010
Accounting – it could put your glazed eyes to sleep – until the SEC comes banging at your door, demanding to know how you accounted for a recent restructuring transaction and where are some of the related agreements...
11 Jun 2010
Structured finance lawyers and bankers, bank your sleep hours. An overhaul in the regulation of structured financial products is upon us, including new powers intended to...
11 Jun 2010
Commercial real estate is still under water, but one sector is doing surprisingly well: data centers. The owners of data centers, often REITs, are...
11 Jun 2010
With oil ever in demand, financing shipping fleets is an attractive proposition and London remains its favoured port of call. Greece’s Navios Maritime has just signed up...
11 Jun 2010
Qatar’s Lilliputian size belies its deal-making prowess. Pound-for-pound, it may be the world’s richest (non-tax haven) country, but Qatar hasn’t put all its eggs in the energy basket...
11 Jun 2010
While many CDO’s may be destined for oblivion, the lucky ones are being recapitalized to live another day. Among this group is GSC Investment Corp...
11 Jun 2010
In a stark warning of just how badly a joint venture can go wrong, beleaguered bioplastics company, Stanelco plc, has announced that following its disastrous joint venture with Sphere SA…
10 Jun 2010
In a $1.3 billion tale of the strength of U.S. healthcare, two U.S. rivals are merging while one’s significant British shareholders skip out – skip, that is, all the way to the bank...
10 Jun 2010
As credit markets continued to be tight and capital markets remained volatile in 2009 and early 2010, many issuers, particularly in the mining industry, raised capital through PIPE transactions…
10 Jun 2010
When do bankers become conspirators? In the wake of the Lehman and LandAmerica bankruptcies, a lot earlier than you might think – just ask UBS or JPMorgan, and maybe even SunTrust...
10 Jun 2010
The rain in Spain is falling relentlessly on the (banking) plain. This has led to a scurry for cover through well-publicized Spanish governmental moves, and…
10 Jun 2010
As firms consider deleveraging strategies, consider the IRS’s latest move: The Internal Revenue Service and the Department of the Treasury have proposed new rules relating to...
10 Jun 2010
A first-of-its kind trade treaty stands to heat up the surprisingly dynamic relationship between Brazil and Israel…
10 Jun 2010
The purifying waters of M&A washed over Culligan. After recently registering an initial public offering with the SEC, bottled water and water dispenser provider Primo Water Corporation has agreed to...
9 Jun 2010
In the heady boom days of 2006 and 2007 private equity partied it up and structured mega-buyouts with loads of leverage. Debt laden portfolio companies are still...
9 Jun 2010
Lending and general economic conditions remain difficult for European companies, affecting even venerable Coke in Europe. The result? Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling Company (CCHB), the Greek franchise of Coca-Cola International, has announced …
9 Jun 2010
Hedge funds, private equity firms, and boutique investments are taking on new roles and in the process are reshaping the face of capital markets. After the implosion of Lehman Brothers...
9 Jun 2010
A draft of red-hot Agricultural Bank of China’s prospectus was filed with the China Securities Regulatory Commission on June 4 2010. Hailed as ‘the big one,’ the IPO of the last of China’s Big 4 banks seems to have shrunken somewhat from…
9 Jun 2010
Chinese companies are rapidly moving into Canada’s resource sector, bringing to the forefront issues of investor protections and controls…
9 Jun 2010
China as “factory to the world” is at some risk, even posing a threat to iconic brands like Apple and Honda. Strikingly few Western companies have disclosed this…
8 Jun 2010
The use of dual class voting rights in Canada has met significant opposition over the years, with some of the largest shareholders and activists speaking out against the practice...
8 Jun 2010
In an effort to cash in on China’s booming tourism industry, local carrier China Southern Airlines is stocking up on the latest aircraft from France’s Airbus…
8 Jun 2010
Toronto, Boston, and St. Louis may be a long way from Silicon Valley, but a notable venture capital exit in the technology sphere featuring players from all three locales is unfolding…
7 Jun 2010
At long last, the SEC is joining with others to regulate the muni market. These bonds have, until now, been treated as frequent flyers, with favored, fast track expediency, in the metaphoric “security line” of offerings...
7 Jun 2010
A new corporate governance code in the UK has set out to attack the “fungus” of prior governance misdeeds as the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) seeks to create…
7 Jun 2010
As ad hoc mediators such as China and the U.S. tiptoe around renewed tensions between North and South Korea, general counsel and management of both local and international companies are thinking about what to disclose to investors…
7 Jun 2010
The greasy wake of the BP offshore disaster thousands of miles distant, Petroleo Brasileiro S.A. (Petrobras) announced this week the signing of a…
4 Jun 2010
Montreal-based AbitibiBowater recently announced it has the support of unsecured creditors for a reorganization plan that would swap unsecured debt for equity...
4 Jun 2010
Electric vehicle developer and manufacturer Tesla Motors recently launched a $100 million initial public offering and agreed to the sale of...
4 Jun 2010
Emerging from bankruptcy has always come with strings attached, but recently, two notable companies have emerged with heavy knots tying their assets…
4 Jun 2010
Though the World Cup hasn't been won yet, Westlaw Business Currents can already reveal winners and losers of this tournament. In particular, there are some surprising results for UK-listed companies…
4 Jun 2010
Trump Entertainment Resorts hit the jackpot – sort of. The bankrupt casino company recently filed its $24 million debtor-in-possession (DIP) agreement…
4 Jun 2010
Smaller banks are trading in their rich Uncle Sam for their more freewheeling PE cousins, providing evidence of a financial services recovery…
3 Jun 2010
The sunny forecast for one Chinese energy company may be dotted with clouds, cash flow clouds that is. NASDAQ-listed China Sunergy Co Ltd is not so confident about the…
3 Jun 2010
It has been six months since Dubai World rocked markets around the globe with the announcement it would seek to restructure its burgeoning debt, but the reputedly imminent settlement remains far from certain…
1 Jun 2010
The ban on shorting is back in a newly-enlarged and somewhat quizzical form, courtesy of recent German actions, both announced and promised. As a harbinger of bans-to-come, German actions are noteworthy, as…
1 Jun 2010
Part of the continuing wave of going private transactions, media company Emmis Communications Corporation is going private in a management-led buyout...