MAGAZINE
March 2019 Issue
Financier Worldwide Magazine
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COVER STORY
Balancing BYOD: risks and rewards
The working world is changing. Cultural revolutions, social and environmental issues and technological advancements are combining to re-shape working conventions. As traditional practices change, new patterns emerge. Worker mobility has become a...
FEATURES
Following strong levels of M&A activity over the last few years, the biotech industry is poised for another year of regular dealmaking in 2019. Activity has been driven by a number of factors. One is the pharma industry’s ongoing need to replace aging...
Shareholder disputes in the EU: analysis and resolution
Conflict is part and parcel of all business relationships, with shareholder disputes in particular often to the fore. Indeed, disputes between companies and their shareholders are becoming an increasingly common battleground, with dissension...
Asset tracing and recovery in the Asia-Pacific region
Globalisation has had transformative effect on criminal activity. Today, criminals that go to great lengths to conceal the location and source of their misappropriated assets are able to exploit all markets. Logistically, it has become very difficult to identify...
OFAC ups the ante on cryptocurrency fraud
As part of its efforts to respond to fraudulent activity within the burgeoning cryptocurrency market, the US federal government has been upping the ante on its regulatory sanctions and enforcement. Among the actions taken is the Treasury...
Digital crossroads: analytics and automation in the insurance sector
The insurance sector is at a digital crossroads. Increasing competition, evolving customer expectations and a changing regulatory landscape are redefining the sector’s parameters and forcing insurers to adopt new technologies in order to remain...
ROUNDTABLE
Sanctions compliance & enforcement
THE PANELLISTS: Henry Smith, Control Risks; Judith Alison Lee, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP; Eva Monard, Jones Day; Bryce Bittner, Textron; and Priya R. Aiyar, Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP.
Today, companies have to navigate a complex global sanctions landscape. Two key trends which have emerged in recent months are an increase in targeted sanctions to achieve strategic geopolitical goals and a number of enforcement cases...
SPECIAL REPORT
Risk is a major cause of uncertainty for any organisation. In order to manage risk, organisations need to focus on identifying sources of risk before they impact normal business operations. Risk management policies and procedures – whether financial, strategic...
FORUM: Third-party corruption and fraud risk management
FW moderates a discussion on third-party corruption and fraud risk management between Hannah Musgrave at Bell Gully, Anupreet Amole at Brown Rudnick LLP, and Hannah Laming at Peters & Peters Solicitors.
ProWriters Insurance With cyber crime constantly making headlines, some business owners are gaining awareness of the risks posed by a data breach. We typically see large companies, in the wake of a breach, paying huge sums of money, issuing public apologies and promising...
Why cyber business interruption is a bigger threat than GDPR
BTVK Advisory LLP Businesses and the cyber insurance market on either side of the Atlantic have developed a sophisticated understanding of, and response mechanism to, data breaches. The same cannot be said about cyber business interruption, which poses a...
Cyber security due diligence in M&A transactions
Bristows LLP It goes without saying that every company should have a cyber security policy that addresses prevention rather than cure, but it is clear that whatever preventative measures are put in place companies could still be the victim of an attack and without...
J A Kemp Intellectual property (IP) has long been recognised as an important asset – inventors’ and authors’ rights were acknowledged as far back as the US Constitution. Fast forward a few centuries and IP is well-established as a central pillar of company assets in many...
Gun jumping is an enforcement priority for EU competition authorities
Uría Menéndez In April 2018, the European Commission (EC) imposed a record fine of €125m on telecommunications company Altice for the implementation of its acquisition of control over Portugal Telecom before having obtained the required...
Challenges and trends in reporting for asset managers
Global Risk Management Advisors Asset management firms, including wealth managers, face ever growing challenges in terms of data management and reporting related to their investment exposure, risk management and performance attribution and benchmarking. One driver is that...
Where angels fear to trade: algorithms and antitrust
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP Algorithms are at the core of many of today’s largest and fastest-growing sectors. Defined by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) as a “sequence of rules that should be performed in an exact order to carry out a certain task”...
Directors’ duties and liability under Saudi law
King & Spalding The subject of directors’ duties and liabilities under the laws of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is debated often and has recently undergone changes, as Saudi Arabia continues to work to modernise its laws and regulations. The subject has also gained significance...
How to deal with different motivations to shape an effective compliance programme
FreitasLeite Advogados Perhaps one of the most elusive challenges in the design of an effective compliance programme is determining how to properly react to different motivations. Each motivation would ideally require a different answer. However, at first glance, such an approach...
TALKINGpoint
Outlook for life settlements in 2019
FW speaks with Corwin Zass at Actuarial Risk Management, Ltd about the outlook for life settlements in 2019.
Digital transformation in the chemicals industry
FW speaks with Frank Jenner at Ernst & Young GmbH WPG about digital transformation in the chemicals industry.
DEALfront
mergers & acquisitions
Bristol-Myers to buy Celgene for $74bn
In January, Bristol-Myers Squibb announced it had agreed to acquire Celgene Corporation in a cash and stock transaction valued at $74bn. The deal, one of the biggest mergers in the history of the pharmaceuticals industry, will see Celgene shareholders...
Newmont set to acquire Goldcorp for $10bn
In a combination designed to create a world leading gold company, Newmont Mining Corporation is to acquire all the outstanding common shares of Goldcorp Inc. in a stock-for-stock transaction valued at $10bn. Under the terms of the agreement, Newmont...
private equity & venture capital
Fiserv pays $22bn to acquire PE-backed First Data Corp
Financial technology provider Fiserv Inc has agreed to acquire payment processor First Data Corp in a $22bn all-stock deal. The deal, once completed, will create a payment provider giant and could spark a wave of consolidation in the industry in the...
Apollo to buy RPC in $4.28bn deal
Following months of negotiation, US private equity firm Apollo Global Management is to acquire plastic packaging specialist RPC Group Plc in a deal valued at $4.28bn. Under the terms of the transaction, RPC shareholders will be entitled to receive...
bankruptcy & corporate restructuring
PG&E secures $5.5bn in bankruptcy financing
As a result of the devastation wrought by wildfires in California in 2017 and 2018, energy company Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) Corporation has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, with its liabilities estimated to be $30bn. The Chapter 11 process is intended...
Sears bankruptcy-led auction offers lifeline
The chairman of iconic US retailer Sears Holdings Corp has won a bankruptcy auction to buy the company after submitting a revised offer of $5.2bn. The auction win, in which all the other bidders were liquidators, meant that Sears avoided a total shutdown...
SPOTlight
Earn outs as part of the overall consideration for transactions
Coffin Mew LLP An earn out is a mechanism commonly used in acquisitions, under which part of the purchase price is deferred and made attributable to the future performance of the target’s business after completion. The mechanism is popular with buyers...
Charles Russell Speechlys LLP While there seems to be a wall of money being invested in private equity (PE) funds at the moment – some attribute this to the relatively poor performance of hedge funds in recent years – and some PE houses are raising larger and larger funds as a result...
Diminishing commodity prices and increased interest rates
Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr LLP On 3 December 2018, five months after China imposed a punitive 25 percent tariff on soybean imports from the US, president Donald Trump declared, via Twitter, that “Farmers will be a a [sic] very BIG and FAST beneficiary of our deal with China...
The board’s oversight role in corporate culture definition
ICR Governance Advisory Solutions If one thinks about some of the landmark corporate breakdowns in recent years, no matter how disparate the causes may be – whether it concerns a company besieged with negative publicity and allegations of accounting fraud, or certain institutions...
Investigation and enforcement of financial crime
Steptoe & Johnson LLP Motorcycle enthusiasts have Sturgis, beer-lovers have Oktoberfest, and compliance professionals have the annual ACI Conference on the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) held in Washington, DC in late November or early December. For the uninitiated...
Ensuring value in early stage company patent portfolios
Knowles Intellectual Property Strategies, LLC Most early stage companies rely on their patent portfolios to drive initial company valuation and establish a competitive advantage. In light of the significant monetary commitment required to secure meaningful patent protection, which as a percentage...
Issues surrounding patenting of inventions relating to artificial intelligence in the US and Europe
Ladas & Parry LLP Arguably, artificial intelligence (AI) – that is, the use of tools to perform tasks previously done by the human brain – is as old as the abacus, or perhaps even older. However, it is only with the dramatic increase of computer computational power after 1990 that...
Overage and contractual interpretation: a round-up of recent cases
Walker Morris LLP In recent years, contractual interpretation, and, in particular, the interpretation and operation of overage agreements, has prompted several high profile disputes. Overage payments are frequently negotiated and are payable to sellers if and when...
CONTRIBUTORS
Actuarial Risk Management, Ltd
Bell Gully
Bristows LLP
Brown Rudnick LLP
BTVK Advisory LLP
Charles Russell Speechlys LLP
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP
Coffin Mew LLP
Control Risks
Ernst & Young GmbH WPG
FreitasLeite Advogados
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
Global Risk Management Advisors
ICR Governance Advisory Solutions
J A Kemp
Jones Day
King & Spalding
Knowles Intellectual Property Strategies, LLC
Ladas & Parry LLP
Peters & Peters Solicitor
ProWriters Insurance
Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr LLP
Steptoe & Johnson LLP
Textron
Uría Menéndez
Walker Morris LLP
Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP