MAGAZINE
July 2019 Issue
Financier Worldwide Magazine
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COVER STORY
The importance of intellectual property (IP) cannot be overstated. It is, arguably, a company’s most important asset, critical to fostering innovation and driving economies. According to the European Patent Office, for example, 42 percent of total economic activity in the...
FEATURES
Strategy for our time: ‘buy and build’ steps up
Uptake of the ‘buy and build’ strategy by private equity (PE) houses has increased significantly in recent times – an uptick generated by rising competition for assets and record-high valuations. Essentially, investors in pursuit of value are eschewing...
Transaction reporting: the importance of getting it right
Ensuring that transaction reporting is accurate and compliant has never been more important – a legal obligation that was brought into sharp focus by fines recently imposed on a number of high-profile firms. In March 2019, both UBS AG (UBS) and...
Ride-hailing companies such as Uber and Lyft have disrupted their industry and been the vanguard of the so-called ‘gig economy’. Though both companies have had their issues, they have quickly become staples of the rapidly evolving urban transportation sector...
Protecting assets: trade secrets management
Trade secrets are among a company’s most valuable assets. Protecting such prized proprietary information against misappropriation by whatever threat vector must therefore be a key priority. The EU Trade Secrets Directive defines trade secrets as information...
Reviewing EU vertical agreements legislation
Vertical agreements are important in competition law. They create fewer antitrust concerns than horizontal agreements and allow two or more parties, which are at different levels of a production chain able to control costs, greater efficiencies while promoting...
ROUNDTABLE
Consolidation in the UK energy market
THE PANELLISTS: James Knight, Augusta & Co.; Colin Johnson, Charles River Associates; Chris Staples, Linklaters LLP; and Hywel Davies, Slaughter and May.
The UK energy market is undergoing major change, with regulatory headwinds, soaring costs, increasing competition, new technologies, supply and storage issues and a growth in renewable consumption shaping activity. Also a key factor is the market’s drive...
SPECIAL REPORT
The term white-collar crime is generally associated with financially-motivated non-violent crimes – such as securities fraud, Ponzi schemes, embezzlement, corporate fraud and money laundering – conducted while maintaining a veneer of respectability...
Q&A: Impact of technology on bribery prevention and detection
FW moderates a discussion on the impact of technology on bribery prevention and detection between Alexandra Wrage and Robert Clark at TRACE.
International cooperation with foreign enforcement agencies in financial crime matters
Peters & Peters Solicitors LLP Over the last 18 months, the UK has seen a number of significant changes in the area of international cooperation in financial crime matters, most notably through the widening of unexplained wealth order (UWO) and account freezing order (AFO)...
Trends in white-collar crime enforcement – will the UK always be chasing the US?
TLT Economic crime remains high on the public agenda as well as that of regulators. However, the key UK regulators, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), have faced criticism over the last year, and beyond, over the slow pace of their...
Post-Tesco, are deferred prosecution agreements on shaky ground?
BLM Following the debacle that was the trial of three former Tesco directors, sections of the legal profession are querying whether the outcome of that trial may cause corporates to pause before agreeing to enter into a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA)...
23 Essex Street The question of how to limit the length and complexity of criminal trials arises frequently in cases of financial crime. In the UK, rigorous case management is standard. Prosecutors are expected to control the remit of difficult cases, for example by running several...
A.G. Erotocritou LLC The right to pursue a private criminal prosecution is an effective and frequently used weapon in the arsenal for combatting white-collar crime. Under Cyprus law, a private person, whether this is an individual or a legal entity, has a right to institute criminal proceedings...
Whistleblowing legislation: a guide to transparency in Brazil and in the United States
Sobrosa & Accioly Advocacia White-collar crimes are generally conducted by complex and well-organised networks, with different hierarchical levels of operation, that challenge the measures in existing legal systems designed to detect and prevent such activities. Globalisation and the spread...
Financial crimes in Singapore – an overview
Shook Lin & Bok LLP Financial crime is an ever increasing threat to today’s global economic climate. As a financial hub, Singapore is certainly not immune to this. There have been recent high-profile cases, notably an investigation into ties between financiers in Singapore and the troubled...
TALKINGpoint
De-risking M&A in EMEA: risk management and insurance
FW moderates a discussion on de-risking M&A in EMEA through risk management and insurance, between Kit Westropp, Mark Storrie and Carl Christian Rösiö at Euclid Transactional UK Limited.
The impact of large customer insolvency on supply chain companies
FW speaks with Alan Tilley at BM&T European Restructuring Solutions about the impact of a large customer insolvency on supply chain companies.
Identity verification: risk, compliance and value
FW speaks with Henry Thomas, Darnell Walker, Gus Tomlinson, David Thomas and Adam Hancox at GBG Plc, about the risk, compliance and value issues surrounding identity verification.
Transformation in the oil & gas industry
FW moderates a discussion on transformation in the oil & gas industry between Ogan Kose, Miguel Gonzalez-Torreira and Rory Skrebowski at ATIOS (Accenture Trading, Investments and Commercial Optimisation Strategy).
DEALfront
mergers & acquisitions
Disney to sell Fox regional sports network for $10.6bn
In a deal with a total enterprise value of $10.6bn, Walt Disney Company has agreed to sell the equity interests in 21 Regional Sports Networks (RSNs) and Fox College Sports to TV broadcasting giant Sinclair Broadcast Group. Disney’s RSN portfolio...
IFM Investors agrees $6.5bn Buckeye Partners deal
IFM Global Infrastructure Fund, a wholly-owned subsidiary of IFM Investors, has agreed to acquire Buckeye Partners LP in an all-cash deal worth $6.5bn. The deal will see IFM pay $41.50 per common unit of Buckeye, a 27.5 percent premium to Buckeye’s closing price...
private equity & venture capital
Zayo acquired by PE groups for $14.3bn
In a deal which will see it transition from a public to a private company, bandwidth infrastructure solutions provider Zayo Group Holdings, Inc is to be acquired by affiliates of Digital Colony Partners and Swedish private equity (PE) group EQT Partners in a transaction...
Acelity sold to 3M in $6.7bn deal
Medical device manufacturer Acelity Inc, and its KCI subsidiaries, have been sold to 3M in a deal worth $6.7bn. The deal is expected to close in the second half of 2019. 3M will acquire Acelity, formerly known as Kinetic Concepts Inc, from a consortium...
bankruptcy & corporate restructuring
Weatherford files for Chapter 11
In a bid to reduce its long-term debt after more than four years of not making a profit, oilfield services company Weatherford International has entered into an agreement with its creditors that allows the company to file for a prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy...
Bristow files for bankruptcy protection
Helicopter services and training provider Bristow Group has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy following a period financial difficulty. Bristow has become the latest helicopter firm to experience financial difficulty, and has filed for Chapter 11 with the...
SPOTlight
NautaDutilh N.V. In past years, various unsuccessful attempts by foreign companies to acquire Dutch companies, such as KPN, PostNL, Unilever and AkzoNobel, have triggered a widespread and ongoing public debate in the Netherlands regarding the protection of Dutch listed companies...
Real assets: the widening search for stable returns
Clifford Chance Tech and data-driven M&A grabs headlines, but unprecedented levels of fundraising in 2018 demonstrated the continued attractiveness of real assets such as infrastructure, energy and real estate. In an uncertain world, the predictability of real asset returns...
From art to science: the opportunity for AI in manufacturing
Microsoft Artificial intelligence (AI) is expected to nearly double employee productivity gains in Asia Pacific (APAC) by 2021, according to a recent study from IDC Asia/Pacific and Microsoft. However, there is a long way to go before then, with nearly 60 percent of manufacturers...
CONTRIBUTORS
23 Essex Street
A.G. Erotocritou LLC
ATIOS
Augusta & Co.
BLM
BM&T European Restructuring Solutions
Charles River Associates
Clifford Chance
Euclid Transactional UK Limited
GBG Plc
Linklaters LLP
Microsoft
NautaDutilh N.V.
Peters & Peters Solicitors LLP
Shook Lin & Bok LLP
Slaughter and May
Sobrosa & Accioly Advocacia
TLT
TRACE