MAGAZINE
March 2015 Issue
Financier Worldwide Magazine
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COVER STORY
Ripple effect of tumbling oil prices
The oil market has long been a volatile one. Since the turn of the century, the daily price of a barrel has been, on average, 18 percent higher or lower than it was six months previously. Nevertheless, 2014 was an extraordinary year for the industry...
FEATURES
M&A activity reaches seven year high
As predicted, 2014 was a bumper year for merger and acquisition (M&A) activity, with global values for deals hitting their highest levels since 2007. According to data from Thomson Reuters, global deal values for the year reached $3.27 trillion...
Potential cryptocurrency regulation
2014 was a rough year for cyptocurrencies. Bitcoin in particular, the alternative currency poster-child, endured an annus horribilis. Last year saw the collapse of notable bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox, the arrest of Bitcoin Foundation board...
Overcoming opacity: the importance of corporate transparency
Where should corporate transparency begin and where should it end? What information should be disclosed and what should be withheld? Boiled down, what determines the limits of transparency? Since the 2007-2008 global...
Intellectual property reforms in China: a long and tortured road?
Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that: “Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author”. In today’s...
The issue of pension funding has made headline news in recent years. Notable municipal bankruptcies in Stockton, California, and in Detroit, Michigan have helped to shape the discourse around public pensions. Though both public and private...
ROUNDTABLE
Developing an effective compliance strategy
THE PANELLISTS: Matthew Heiman, Tyco; Dr Klaus Moosmayer, Siemens AG; Sam Eastwood, Norton Rose Fulbright LLP; Stuart Altman, Hogan Lovells; George Gallinger, CohnReznick LLP; Luz María Pineda Lucy, Fondo de Fondos.
In today’s corporate world, an effective compliance strategy is a ‘must have’ component of a company’s management portfolio. Over the last 12 months, an increasing number of companies have reported a rise in the extent and frequency of the...
SPECIAL REPORT
Global restructuring and insolvency
While many firms failed to emerge from the wreckage of the global recession fully intact, if at all, many of those that did survive only did so due to the refinancings and out-of-court restructurings instigated by lenders. Although there has been...
FORUM: Managing cross-border restructurings and bankruptcies
FW moderates a discussion on managing cross-border restructurings and bankruptcies between Joanna Gasowski at K&L Gates Jamka sp.k., Grigory Marinichev at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, Richard C. Pedone at Nixon Peabody LLP, Van C. Durrer II at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates, and L.P. Harrison 3rd at Curtis Mallet-Prevost Colt & Mosle LLP.
Global trends in restructuring and insolvency for 2015
INSOL Restructuring and insolvency activity worldwide generally remains low as companies enjoy easy and affordable access to capital. Interest rates are low and capital markets in the US, and around the world, remain relatively open, apart from...
Sectors showing structural weakness in 2015
Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz Against a backdrop of historically low interest rates, 2014 was generally a slow year for bankruptcies and restructurings in the United States. There were a few large cases, such as the Chapter 11 filing of Energy Future Holdings (EFH), the Texas...
Never waste a good crisis: critical success factors for the chief restructuring officer
PwC The Chief Restructuring Officer (CRO) is increasingly seen as an important position in companies faced with the need to implement processes of change, especially those of an urgent nature. The CRO concept that started in America has moved to...
What’s so special about German corporate bankruptcy cases three years after ESUG reform?
Kirkland & Ellis International LLP March 2012 was the beginning of the end of the dark ages for German in-court restructuring. No more equity hold-outs, no more commandeering of the process by bankruptcy administrators, enhanced creditor involvement, an opportunity...
Settlement with creditors in Hungarian bankruptcy proceedings
CMS Cameron McKenna The Hungarian financial market, like a number of other Central and Eastern European markets, still faces the legal challenge of how its non-performing loans can be restructured. Given that the economic downturn does not appear to be over...
Trading while insolvent liability and forbearance and restructuring agreements in Australia
Bracewell & Giuliani While there are certainly defensible policy reasons for holding directors liable for trading while insolvent, such liability presents an additional complexity to a successful restructuring. This is particularly true when a company has accessed the US...
Emerging markets Asian restructurings – more international yet more local?
Ashurst LLP The combined effect of developments in domestic bankruptcy regimes in certain key Asian countries, an increased willingness in Asia to adopt ‘international restructuring tourism’ and the continued offshore structuring of debt instruments in Asia have...
The changing landscape of solvency assessment management for South African insurers
Bowman Gilfillan Incorporated For the past four years, the National Treasury (NT) and the Financial Services Board (FSB) have been working on a framework for the implementation of solvency assessment management in South Africa (SAM). SAM is a new risk based solvency...
DEALfront
mergers & acquisitions
MWV and RockTenn agree $16bn global packaging deal
In late-January 2015, after months of speculation, a $16bn global packaging deal was struck between two industry leaders: Rock-Tenn Company (RockTenn) and MeadWestvaco Corporation (MWV). According to the CEOs of both companies, the deal creates...
Hutchison Whampoa Limited, the Hong Kong based parent company of UK mobile operator Three UK, announced in January that it was in advanced, exclusive talks with Spanish telecommunications firm Telefonica S.A. over the acquisition of Telefonica’s UK...
private equity & venture capital
Centerbridge Partners to acquire turbine unit for $1.2bn
Suzlon Energy Ltd announced on 22 January that it had agreed to sell its German wind turbine unit, Senvion SE, to private equity firm Centerbridge Partners for around $1.2bn. The all cash deal, which is subject to regulatory approval and a number...
Blackstone raises $4.5bn fund dedicated to energy
Private equity giant The Blackstone Group has exceeded its $4bn target in its quest to establish a fund dedicated to energy sector investments. The fund, which goes under the name Blackstone Energy Partners II, began the process of soliciting funds in 2014...
bankruptcy & corporate restructuring
Caesar’s empire crumbling as unit files for Chapter 11
As part of a wider corporate restructuring procedure, Caesars Entertainment Operating Co (CEOC) was placed in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January by the division’s parent company, Caesars Entertainment Corporation. The unit’s bankruptcy filing...
The Wet Seal applies for Chapter 11 protection
The Wet Seal, Inc., a specialty retailer for young women, has announced that it has filed voluntary petitions for relief under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code in the United States. The Wet Seal will continue to operate its business...
SPOTlight
One size does not fit all: the complex relationship between M&A and shareholder returns
Intralinks There’s no question that doing deals can help a company to grow quickly. By expanding in this way, organisations can gain access to new market opportunities or enhance their products and services. What is less clear is whether M&A actually delivers value for shareholders...
Secured lending and the perfect storm: nontraditional lenders and covenant light loans
King & Spalding LLP A commonly expressed theme among those who comment on the relationships between lenders and borrowers is that secured creditors hold too much power, and that this power stifles a struggling company’s ability to recover and survive. In the US...
Structuring foreign investment in the US
Klueger & Stein LLP Investment in US real estate or a business should be structured to afford privacy, asset protection and minimisation of US taxation. Due to the US taxing on worldwide income, tax structuring is often a driving force behind a transaction...
The one task a board of directors can’t afford to delegate
Kingsdale Shareholder Services As concern grows over challenging market conditions worldwide, especially in the extractive industries, boards will be under increased pressure to prove they can perform effectively and guide public companies through this period of adversity...
Private enforcement of competition law in Europe – a boardroom issue
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP The growth, development and prominence of private enforcement of competition law in Europe have turned it into an issue that increasingly finds its way onto boardroom agendas. Many entrepreneurial general counsels are seeing...
CONTRIBUTORS
Ashurst LLP
Bowman Gilfillan Incorporated
Bracewell & Giuliani
CMS Cameron McKenna
CohnReznick LLP
Curtis Mallet-Prevost Colt & Mosle LLP.
Fondo de Fondos
Hogan Lovells
INSOL
Intralinks
K&L Gates Jamka sp.k.
King & Spalding LLP
Kingsdale Shareholder Services
Kirkland & Ellis International LLP
Klueger & Stein LLP
Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
Nixon Peabody LLP
Norton Rose Fulbright LLP
PwC
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP
Siemens AG
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates
Tyco
Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz