Variable Capital Company – the rising star

December 2020  |  FINANCE & INVESTMENT

Shook Lin & Bok

The Variable Capital Company (VCC) Singapore fund structure went live in January 2020 and has been a resounding success with more than 140 VCCs incorporated at the time of writing. It has rapidly become a main discussion topic for fund managers…

Shareholder value or societal value: what should corporate boards be looking after?

December 2020  |  BOARDROOM INTELLIGENCE

Houthoff

Around the globe, it is more and more accepted that corporate boards, when fulfilling their fiduciary and other duties, should not simply seek to maximise shareholder value or act in the best interest of their companies’ shareholders, but should act in the best interest…

After the Argentine debt restructuring: a test for collective action clauses

November 2020  |  FINANCE & INVESTMENT

Marval O’Farrell Mairal

In the aftermath of the recently closed Argentine debt exchange, it is time to look back on this workout and determine how the architecture of sovereign debt contracts can be improved. There are two main legal innovations that Argentina has implemented to tackle the creditor…

Upcoming challenges and opportunities in the Spanish debt market

November 2020  |  BANKING & FINANCE

Cases & Lacambra

In the first days of March before lockdown was imposed in Spain, and in anticipation of the adverse effects that coronavirus (COVID-19) would have on companies, Spanish financial entities reacted swiftly to make available vast amounts of preapproved loans to their clients – mainly small…

Transitioning ‘tough legacy’ LIBOR contracts – different strokes for different folks?

October 2020  |  BANKING & FINANCE

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP

In 2017, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced that after 2021 it would no longer compel panel banks to submit the rates required to calculate the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). As a result, market participants need to transition their financial…

How voice technology can help banks manage risk

October 2020  |  BANKING & FINANCE

Speechmatics

It comes as no surprise that the pandemic has taken its toll on financial institutions (FIs). Banks are always on the lookout for ways to cut costs to improve their operational margins. The lockdown, though, has seen FIs having to rapidly invest in technology to align…

An uncharted path to the new normal for venture capital firms

August 2020  |  PRIVATE EQUITY

L2 Counsel

The global pandemic caused by COVID-19 has thrown economies and entire financial systems into disarray. Q1 2020 gross domestic product (GDP) data for the US and Europe released at the end of April confirmed the hard truth none of us want to…

COVID-19 and the gloomy outlook for global investment: freefall, protectionism and disputes

August 2020  |  FINANCE & INVESTMENT

City University of Hong Kong

The exceptional circumstances caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic provoke a state of amazement, mobilisation and union to defeat ‘the enemy’ on all continents. The ubiquitous wide-ranging threats, accompanied by fear and uncertainty…

How COVID-19 has shaped the future of money during emergencies

August 2020  |  BANKING & FINANCE

Soldo

As governments gradually ease the lockdown in the UK and across Europe, businesses of every type and size face the challenging task of rebuilding, all while the global economy teeters on the brink of recession. For many individuals and businesses…

LegalTech: solutions to old and new challenges in internal investigations

August 2020  |  LITIGATION & DISPUTE RESOLUTION

Hengeler Mueller

Artificial intelligence (AI) and other machine capabilities closely associated with AI, such as machine learning (ML) and predictive coding, are not merely buzzwords in legal compliance advising. They are part of numerous LegalTech tools – the use of which has…

The pari passu clause is back on track in Argentina’s sovereign debt restructuring

July 2020  |  FINANCE & INVESTMENT

Marval O’Farrell Mairal

The ‘pari passu’ clause and its interpretation by the US courts are front and centre right now as Argentina is once again carrying out a sovereign debt restructuring. Previously, when the rulings of the US courts on how this clause and its equal treatment provision…

Understanding patents as opportunities and obstacles for business

July 2020  |  INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Shelston IP

A patent in a business’ own hands can be a powerful tool for creating and maintaining a technological advantage in a market. Equally, a patent in the hands of a competitor can create a significant impediment for a business in striving to offer the full…

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission puts renewable energy resources in its crosshairs

July 2020  |  SECTOR ANALYSIS

Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP

Renewable energy resources have proliferated significantly over the last decade. Recent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) orders addressing New York and mid-Atlantic organised wholesale electricity markets…

Non-performance of business agreements in Spain amid the coronavirus turmoil

June 2020  |  LITIGATION & DISPUTE RESOLUTION

Cases & Lacambra

In March 2020, as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Spain declared a state of alarm, ordering a general lockdown and a stay at home policy in the country. The slowdown in the economy caused by COVID-19 and the lockdown has dramatically impacted…

COVID-19: application of EU Medical Devices Regulation postponed by one year, until 26 May 2021

June 2020  |  SECTOR ANALYSIS

K&L Gates

The application date of Regulation (EU) 2017/745 on medical devices (MDR), which was originally anticipated on 26 May 2020, has been postponed by one year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On 24 April 2020, the EU legislator adopted an amendment…

Effective management of arbitration – the importance of involving in-house counsel

May 2020  |  LITIGATION & DISPUTE RESOLUTION

Pinheiro Neto Advogados

Arbitration is an established dispute resolution mechanism. Favoured in international disputes, it possesses an array of formats given its well-known flexibility. If combined with other sorts of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) methods, such as mediation…

Broadening corporate risk management in relation to director and officer liability for ESG – the future is now

April 2020  |  RISK MANAGEMENT

Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP

It seems almost trite to say that shareholder primacy has long been the dominant consideration for corporations and that directors and officers (D&Os) should carefully consider the duties they owe to the corporations they work for. However, directors should…

Operationalising multijurisdictional privacy requirements – the GDPR and the CCPA

April 2020  |  EXPERT BRIEFING  |  DATA PRIVACY

Baker Botts LLP

The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) is the most sweeping privacy law in the US, rivalling that of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Generally, it requires organisations that conduct business in California to observe rights of transparency…

A positive outlook for Canada’s propane industry

April 2020  |  SECTOR ANALYSIS

Burnet, Duckworth & Palmer LLP

In Canada, the production of propane, a hydrocarbon that, in its liquid state, falls within the category of liquefied petroleum gases (LPGs), is on the rise. Between 2015 and 2018, propane production in Alberta increased from 7,958,621 cubic metres to 12,610,330…

Corporate bankruptcy resolution: juxtaposing the US and India

March 2020  |  BANKRUPTCY & RESTRUCTURING

FDC Limited

The Indian Bankruptcy Code (IBC) is a recent creation. The insolvency resolution process in India previously involved the simultaneous operation of multiple statutory instruments. These included: (i) the Sick Industrial Companies Act, 1985; (ii) the Securitisation and…

The hidden cost of compliance for manufacturers

March 2020  |  BOARDROOM INTELLIGENCE

Ation Advisory

There is little doubt that in most organisations the finance and quality assurance teams are at odds with each other – and at times diabolically opposed. Quality organisations often act like the Central Intelligence Agency after the horrific events on September 11th…

New tax on foreign currency purchases in Argentina

March 2020  |  CORPORATE TAX

Canosa Abogados

Like the movie Groundhog Day, in which history keeps repeating itself, Argentina has again imposed additional exchange controls, in the form of a special 30 percent tax on foreign currency purchases. Argentina enacted Law 27,541 on 23 December 2019 (Solidarity Law)…

Why deals are becoming harder to close – and what to do about it

January 2020  |  MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS

King & Spalding LLP

On the heels of an extraordinarily busy year for M&A activity in 2018, 2019 offered both opportunities for celebration, as well as some causes for concern for market participants. Complex forces are currently converging to create an economic…

The FCPA itself can provide a favourable competitive business edge

January 2020  |  FRAUD & CORRUPTION

Ation Advisory Group

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) can be a useful business development tool when dealing with government officials, customers and vendors in international markets if US parties conduct valuable training awareness programmes or seminars…

Common transactions with transfer pricing risk in Africa

January 2020  |  CORPORATE TAX

MAERSK

There has been mounting pressure on the tax authorities in Africa to increase tax revenue to meet domestic development needs. In a bid to meet the ambitious revenue target set by many African governments, transfer pricing has been identified as an additional source…

Short-term sanctions – the new norm?

January 2020  |  GLOBAL TRADE

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP

Within the space of nine days in October 2019, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) imposed and then revoked far-reaching sanctions on Turkey in response to Ankara’s military incursion into…

Recent developments in Section 1782 discovery

January 2020  |  LITIGATION & DISPUTE RESOLUTION

Norton Rose Fulbright

28 U.S.C. § 1782 is a federal statute that allows petitioners to obtain evidence (discovery) in the US in aid of non-US legal proceedings. This litigation tool has become increasingly popular in recent years and, as a result, cases clarifying its scope have been making…

The social licence as a key factor for the peaceful development of infrastructure

January 2020  |  SECTOR ANALYSIS

LITREDI, S.C.

Our modern civilisation is built on several fixed ideas which are treated as dogmas, but that have begun to be questioned not only by scholars, but due to the reality itself. The idea of linear, unstoppable progress tied to never-ending economic growth…