MAGAZINE
April 2013 Issue
Financier Worldwide Magazine
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COVER STORY
Regulation and the hedge fund industry
In the current regulatory environment, hedge fund managers face an abundance of new challenges. Having recently come to terms with the US Dodd-Frank Act, many must now comply with the registration and disclosure requirements of the European AIFMD. To add to this, investors have stepped up...
FEATURES
Food industry hungry for deals
The food industry is no stranger to trends and fads, and we are all accustomed to ‘flavour of the week’ diets and the ‘super-foods’ occupying column inches in magazines and newspapers around the world. However, the most talked about food development of 2013 so far has revolved around the...
Dell deal unlikely to open LBO mega-buyout door
The early months of 2013 have undoubtedly seen the M&A market pick up, with a spate of deals across a number of different sectors bringing confidence back to the markets. Part of this uptick has seen the leveraged buyout (LBO) become a hot topic once again. The 5 February announcement...
Latin American PE at five-year high
Over the last decade, private equity and venture capital firms have looked to the giants of the emerging markets for new investment opportunities. However, that is beginning to change. According to data released by the Latin American Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (LAVCA),...
Revival, not recovery, for private real estate
The private real estate market has endured a turbulent few years. Since the global economic crisis bit, the industry has had to withstand not only a number of structural and legislative changes, notably in the form of the Dodd Frank Act and the Alternative Investment Fund Managers...
Quantitative easing: here to stay
Quantitative easing polarises opinion. Advocates of the strategy point to its many benefits, suggesting that it has helped to lower unemployment rates, stimulate economic growth, increase liquidity for commercial banks (which should, in turn, lead to increased lending) and prevent...
ROUNDTABLE
THE PANELLISTS: David Guild, AIG; Lawrence E. Penn III, The Camelot Group; Sita Khosla, Dua Associates; and Caroline Williams, Walkers.
While 2012 was predicted to see private equity’s return to form, deal making disappointed many under the weight of expectation. PE firms may have weathered the turbulence and fallout of the financial crisis, but the outlook for 2013 looks mixed. Fundraising is a challenge, though a number...
SPECIAL REPORT
In an increasingly complex and volatile business environment, risk management continues to grow in importance. Authorities around the world have enhanced their monitoring and enforcement practices in a number of areas, and new regulation requires companies to enact effective…
FORUM: Managing exposure to today's technology related risks
FW moderates a discussion on technology related risks between Ronald I. Raether at Faruki Ireland & Cox P.L.L., Robert Bond at Speechly Bircham LLP, and Jim Charron at Zurich North America.
Corporate resilience: managing third party risks
CRI Group It goes without saying that forging strong relationships with outside service providers, manufacturers, and supply chain and distribution partners will strengthen a company’s ability to broaden its markets, expand its product and service offerings, respond more aggressively to...
Risk management and due diligence
1stWEST Financial Corporation Winston Churchill once said that “There are times when there is nothing left to do but what is required”. Such is the case with risk management and due diligence. When making an investment of debt or equity into a business, what is required is appropriate action on the proper due...
Cyber-warfare, cyber-terrorism, and cyber-crime
Dickinson Wright PLLC One of the unfortunate consequences of political rhetoric is the purposeful brandmarking of the dialogue; controlling the language of the discourse may, as much as substance, determine the conclusions drawn by the target audience. Political strategists understand that the language used in...Protect your company from cyber threats
Holistic risk management: remembering operational risk in over-the-counter derivatives market reform
Fiserv The global financial crisis drew attention to the systemic importance of the Over-the-Counter (OTC) derivatives market, and the serious risk that this market presented to the broader economy. In response to this, the Dodd-Frank Act in the US and the European Markets Infrastructure...
DEALfront
mergers & acquisitions
Mylan Inc purchases Agila for $1.6bn
Pharmaceutical manufacturer Mylan Inc has agreed to acquire Agila Specialties Private Limited, a producer of generic, injectable drugs, from Strides Arcolab Limited for $1.6bn. Mylan expects the deal to be completed in Q4 2013, subject to certain closing conditions. The transaction values...
Chesapeake Energy sells 50 percent stake to Sinopec
Late February saw Chesapeake Energy Corp. agree to sell a stake in its Mississippi Lime shale oilfields to China Petrochemical Corp., otherwise known as Sinopec, for $1.02bn. Under the terms of the deal Chesapeake will receive 93 percent of the transaction price when the deal is...
private equity & venture capital
On 8 March, following months of speculation, private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Co (KKR) announced it had agreed to acquire industrial equipment manufacturer Gardner Denver Inc., in a transaction valued at $3.9bn. The deal will see the PE firm pay shareholders...
Best Buy will not be purchased by founder
The American consumer electronics corporation Best Buy Co Inc., will not be acquired by its founder Richard Schulze and his private equity partners after their six-month-long takeover attempt collapsed at the beginning of March. Mr Schulze, who founded Best Buy with...
bankruptcy & corporate restructuring
Lehman brokerage finalises $44bn worth of settlements
The remaining unpaid customers of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. finally moved a step closer to having their money returned to them in February, when the brokerage finalised settlements with its parent company and European unit. Approximately $44bn worth of customer claims were resolved in...
Beechcraft emerges from Chapter 11 bankruptcy
On 19 February, aircraft manufacturer Beechcraft Corporation, formerly known as Hawker Beechcraft, announced that it had emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The new, streamlined firm has been freed of the bulk of the crippling debt which brought the preceding company, and its...
PROFESSIONALinsight
Infrastructure Sector
Structural options for US infrastructure: alternative sources of financing
Taylor-DeJongh A study by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) in January 2013 puts the costs of chronic underinvestment in US infrastructure into stark economic terms: by 2020 the US stands to lose some 3.5 million jobs due to declining productivity and competitiveness from crumbling...
Survey of the 2012 US P3 transport market: no longer an outlier
Nossaman LLP Malcolm Gladwell’s book ‘Outliers: The Story of Success’ introduced the idea that 10,000 hours of practice are required to master any skill, as evidenced by Canadian elite hockey players and software billionaires like Bill Gates. The 10,000 hour rule could apply to the P3 transportation...
State of play: shale development highlights from 2012 and predictions for 2013
BakerHostetler In 2012, the US Congress took no significant formal action with respect to shale development. Federal agencies did little to supply uniform regulation of shale drilling. But because nature abhors a vacuum, from a legislative and regulatory perspective US states stole the show in 2012....
Sofia Airport – unexpected growth for the new century
Hristov | Yordanov & Partners As a small Eastern European economy, Bulgaria is not often the focus of interest for major investors in the transport sector. Recently, however, its capital city Sofia has attracted the increasing attention of some global airport operators. The reason for this is that the government is...
Bankruptcy & Restructuring
Supreme Court of Canada rules on pension priorities in insolvencies
Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP On 1 February 2013, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) released its decision in Sun Indalex Finance, LLC v. United Steelworkers (Re Indalex). In its 160 page decision, the SCC confirmed that a court-ordered debtor-in-possession (DIP) charge had priority over a deemed...
The future of court-assisted reorganisation in Brazilian regulated sectors
Lilla, Huck, Otranto, Camargo Advogados Last August, the Brazilian government passed Provisional Executive Act No. 577/12, which establishes that concessionaires of electricity as a public service are not subject to the judicial reorganisation procedure regulated by Federal Law No. 11.101/05 (the Brazilian Bankruptcy and...
SPOTlight
Middle East private equity looks forward
Norton Rose (Middle East) LLP Rewind to 2005 and ‘private equity’ was a buzzword in the UAE. The stars were aligned. There was global liquidity. Regional fund managers were lining up potential investments in the region in all sectors. With the introduction of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) and the...
Avoiding the roadblocks to doing business in the BRICs
Nexia TS As the economic contagion has taken hold across much of the western world, the appeal of doing business in the world’s major fast-growing economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRICs) has heightened. These countries are not immune to the negative effects of the...
The IBO: the future of SMEs financing
ALTANA Following the recommendations of the Rameix-Giami report, NYSE Euronext now allows listed and unlisted SMEs to issue bonds to retail investors on NYSE Euronext Paris and NYSE Alternext Paris. Since its launch in July 2012, this new public offering of bonds called Initial...
Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP A recent Federal Circuit decision confirmed that companies may rely on substantial licensing activities to establish the ‘domestic industry’ necessary to enforce their patents at the US International Trade Commission (ITC). The decision, InterDigital Communications, LLC, v. ITC,...
CONTRIBUTORS
1stWEST Financial Corporation
AIG
ALTANA
BakerHostetler
Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP
CRI Group
Dickinson Wright PLLC
Dua Associates
Faruki Ireland & Cox P.L.L.
Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner, LLP
Fiserv
Hristov | Yordanov & Partners
Lilla, Huck, Otranto, Camargo Advogados
Nexia TS
Norton Rose (Middle East) LLP
Nossaman LLP
Speechly Bircham LLP
Taylor-DeJongh
The Camelot Group
Walkers
Zurich North America