MAGAZINE
April 2018 Issue
Financier Worldwide Magazine
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COVER STORY
Trump’s tax cuts and the impact on US M&A
While president Trump’s first 12 months in office were not short on incident – think travel bans, Russian probes, the Mexico-US border wall, fake news, sex scandals, federal firings and divisive tweets, among many others – they were...
FEATURES
Accelerating M&A deal cycles through automation
Repeated often across the business world is the adage ‘time is money’. It is a realistic enough notion and one certainly applicable to the world of mergers & acquisitions (M&A), where deal value can be significantly inflated by speedy and efficient...
Foreign direct investment (FDI) plays a critical role in the global economy, and contributes to the growth of national economies. Emerging and developing countries, in particular, benefit from the funding and market experience of established multinationals...
JV piggybacking: the pros and cons of purchasing shareholder-provided services
Pooling resources is generally an advantageous strategy toward achieving a common goal. In the joint venture (JV) space this idea is a given, as many JVs are inclined to purchase services from a parent company. The advantages of tapping into...
Operational risk management in financial services
Over the course of the last decade, operational risk management has evolved into one of the biggest concerns organisations face. In the financial services industry, as a result of technological advancements, organisations have grown in both...
Getting gender pay parity right
Women represent 50 percent of the global working-age population and are responsible for 37 percent of global GDP, yet a gender imbalance persists in the boardroom as well as in pay packets. According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research...
ROUNDTABLE
THE PANELLISTS: Eduardo Gracia, Ashurst; Fabio Gaspar, Shell Brasil Petróleo Ltda.; Nathaniel Carden, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP; and Andrea Musselli, Studio Musselli.
Today’s transfer pricing landscape is very different from the one that existed just a few years ago. Across the globe, the implementation of an effective transfer pricing policy is among the most problematic taxation issues currently facing companies...
SPECIAL REPORT
Infrastructure & project finance
For any entity – be it a public authority, project sponsor, project promoter or an issuer – seeking financing for infrastructure projects is no easy task. These entities need to be able to raise debt finance through banks and the capital markets...
FORUM: Creating value and managing risk in emerging market infrastructure
Geoff Haley, founder and chairman of the IPFA, moderates a discussion on creating value and managing risk in emerging market infrastructure between Richard Fechner at GHD Advisory, Heru Mardijarto at Makarim and Taira S., Oliver Irwin at Milbank, and Joanne Emerson Taqi at Norton Rose Fulbright (Middle East) LLP.
Bidders need to pay close attention to the details of procurement documents
DLA Piper (Canada) LLP As the infrastructure market matures and participants become more familiar with the procurement methods and, in many cases, the template procurement documents used, it is easy to lose sight of the need to pay attention to the details of what is...
Private finance is dead: long live private finance
Sharpe Pritchard LLP In 1897 a journalist (thinking him to be on death’s door) was sent to enquire after American author, Mark Twain’s, health. Twain, who was in fact perfectly well and would go on to live until 1910, reportedly stated that, “reports of [his] death...
Connectivity and data storage as a ‘core plus’ infrastructure asset
Allen & Overy LLP In recent years, funds investing in infrastructure have shown much greater interest in connectivity and data assets as part of the ‘core plus’ infrastructure asset class. There are a number of reasons for this increased interest including continued...
Infrastructure – is the price of low cost too high?
CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang LLP The need for investment in the UK’s infrastructure is universally accepted, with the means of funding the investment in these cash-straitened times hotly debated in political circles. The National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) published its first Annual...
Vendor finance has become a requisite for a sale within several industries
Kromann Reumert Vendor financing is certainly not novel; almost all production companies offering energy performance certificate (EPC) terms or supplying major parts to standalone projects have, at some point, engaged in vendor financing. However...
Eurasian power sector investment by China
Shearman & Sterling One of the hottest topics in China – in major publications and social media, among other outlets – is the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Marine Silk Road initiative (known as the Belt and Road initiative). The Belt and Road initiative is...
Impact of Indonesia’s infrastructure delivery
Tusk Advisory Infrastructure is widely recognised as one of the key factors affecting economic growth, as well as reductions in inequality and poverty, particularly in developing economies. The Indonesian government, under the leadership of President Joko Widodo...
Key risks in African oil & gas project financings
Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy Africa is home to five of the top 30 oil-producing countries in the world. Eighty percent of its oil is produced by Algeria, Angola and Nigeria, it has proven gas reserves of 502 trillion cubic feet, and 90 percent of its gas is produced by Algeria, Nigeria...
TALKINGpoint
FW moderates a discussion on distress in the retail sector between James Alt at Huron, Nicole Greenblatt at Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Van C. Durrer II at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP.
DEALfront
mergers & acquisitions
Following a relatively subdued 2017, this year is expected to be more active for dealmaking in the life sciences sector. Last year the total value of life sciences M&A was around $200bn. Notable deals included Johnson & Johnson’s acquisition of Actelion...
Lyondell to acquire Schulman for $2.25bn
In a $2.25bn transaction which creates an industry-leading compounding business, LyondellBasell, one of the largest plastics, chemicals and refining companies in the world, is to acquire A. Schulman, Inc., a leading global supplier of high-performance plastic...
private equity & venture capital
Thomson Reuters sells stake in F&R business to Blackstone-led consortium
A consortium led by US private equity firm Blackstone Group LP announced that it has entered into a partnership agreement to buy a majority stake in the financial and risk (F&R) business of Thomson Reuters Corporation. The transaction values...
In mid-February, Danish telecoms operator TDC announced it is to be acquired by a consortium of three local pension funds and Australian infrastructure investor Macquarie for around $6.7bn. The consortium will pay DKr50.25 or $8.31 per share...
bankruptcy & corporate restructuring
Fieldwood Energy files for Chapter 11
Adding its name to a long list of US energy companies forced to take action after struggling with a mountain of debt, Fieldwood Energy LLC, together with its subsidiaries and certain affiliates, has filed a voluntary petition for relief under Chapter 11...
Remington enters bankruptcy following agreement with creditors
One of the largest firearms manufacturers in the US, Remington Outdoor Company, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to reduce its $950m debt load by around $700m. The company will receive $145m in bankruptcy...
PROFESSIONALinsight
Mergers & Acquisitions
The importance of reputation in M&A
GD Consulting A number of reports, including Deloitte’s M&A 2018 trends report and Allen & Overy’s M&A Insights for Q4 2017, have predicted that mergers and acquisitions (M&A) will be at an all-time high in 2018 despite some high-profile recent failures – Kraft Heinz’s failed...
Mining sector trends: M&A activity intensifies
Herbert Smith Freehills 2017 saw continued price growth in bulk commodities in the Asia Pacific region, leading to greater confidence in the market. While total deal numbers in the region were similar to 2016, more participants in the mining sector were observed actively...
The return of M&A activity in Brazil
Legacy Partners The outlook for global M&A activity this year is broadly positive, with an uptick in both deal volume and transaction amounts expected. The Intralinks Deal Flow Predictor projects that the number of worldwide announced M&A deals in Q1 2018 will increase...
Tips for M&A transactions in the Middle East
King & Spalding This article sets out some of the common issues faced by parties purchasing entities based in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), with a focus on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Fraud & Corruption
Protecting the privilege: witness interview notes and memoranda in internal investigations
Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP A recent case out of the Southern District of Florida, SEC v. Herrera, provides a stark reminder of the difficult tightrope that a company and its counsel must walk when providing information gleaned from an internal investigation to government enforcement...
Why it is unfair to expect accountants to take responsibility
Rahman Ravelli Accountants are often the ones who come under scrutiny when fraud is suspected or identified. There are assumptions that even if the accountant is not the perpetrator of the fraud, they should have at least known about it and raised the alarm...
SPOTlight
CMS London With the economy increasingly turning digital, what does this mean for the world of finance? Lenders are taking note and finding new and innovative ways of lending to companies in the technology, media and telecoms (TMT) sectors. TMT finance...
Board oversight of cyber security
Sullivan & Cromwell LLP In recent years, as high-profile data breaches have led to corporate crises, the resignations of C-suite executives, and substantial financial, regulatory, litigation and reputational harm for companies, cyber security has become a paramount corporate...
Update on the progress of Brexit negotiations
Berry Appleman & Leiden On 8 December, phase 1 of the Brexit negotiations ended with EU and UK negotiators issuing a joint report with clear conclusions on the progress of negotiations. Those ‘clear’ conclusions have now become ever more muddied as negotiations continue, and raise the caveat contained in the joint report that ‘nothing is agreed until everything is agreed’.
UK oil & gas industry: the evolution of an independent midstream sector
Ashurst In recent years we have seen significant change in the UK upstream oil & gas industry, spearheaded by the disparate but equally defining forces of the Wood Review and lower oil prices. The need to change and adapt has also trickled down to the...
CONTRIBUTORS
Allen & Overy LLP
Ashurst
Berry Appleman & Leiden
CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang LLP
DLA Piper (Canada) LLP
GD Consulting
GHD Advisory
Herbert Smith Freehills
Huron
IPFA
King & Spalding
Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Kromann Reumert
Legacy Partners
Makarim and Taira S.
Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy
Norton Rose Fulbright (Middle East) LLP
Rahman Ravelli
Sharpe Pritchard LLP
Shearman & Sterling
Shell Brasil Petróleo Ltda.
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
Studio Musselli
Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
Tusk Advisory
Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP