MAGAZINE
March 2021 Issue
Financier Worldwide Magazine
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COVER STORY
2020 saw a resurgence of private investment in public equities (PIPEs), which offer companies a way to raise a large amount of capital relatively quickly and easily. Last year, 1055 PIPE transactions were completed, raising over $53bn – the largest total since 2008, according to PrivateRaise…
FEATURES
Maximising enterprise value during times of distress
Companies experience financial distress when they have difficulty or are unable to fulfil their financial obligations to creditors. These challenges may arise due to high fixed costs, illiquid assets, shrinking margins, high leverage, rising interest levels, or high customer or employee…
Capital idea: the rise of venture debt
Amid the ongoing economic uncertainty emanating from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, an increasing number of capital-hungry companies are turning to venture debt as a relatively speedy way of accessing new funding. Venture debt, as defined by the…
Tailoring technology: fighting fraud amid adversity
Financial fraud, ever-present in business in the ordinary course of events, has accelerated on account of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and placed financial institutions (FIs), among many others, under tremendous pressure to combat all manner of fraudulent activity…
Key requirements and elements of an effective FCPA compliance programme
In a global marketplace, an effective compliance programme is a critical component of a company’s internal controls, and essential to detecting and preventing Foreign Corrupt Practice Act (FCPA) violations. Effective financial crime compliance programmes are tailored to a…
RCEP: APAC mega-pact signed and ready to deliver
Following eight years of intensive negotiations, in November 2020, 15 Asian states signed the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) – an agreement that ranks among the largest free trade deals in history. A mega-pact between the Asia-Pacific (APAC)…
ROUNDTABLE
Sanctions compliance & enforcement
THE PANELLISTS: Guy Harrison, Dow Jones Risk & Compliance; Judith Alison Lee, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP; Lourdes Catrain, Hogan Lovells International LLP; Nicholas Bentley, Novartis Pharma Services AG; and Eytan Fisch, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP.
Companies across the globe face an increasingly volatile sanctions landscape in 2021. Key challenges include keeping pace with myriad changes to sanctions regimes, as well as responding to evolving Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) guidance under a new US administration…
SPECIAL REPORT
Q&A: Managing identity fraud risks
FW discusses managing identity fraud risks with Nadine P. Tollefsen at Brown Rudnick LLP, Philip Allister at FTI Consulting, and Andrew Herring at Pinsent Masons LLP.
Prepare now for the next catastrophe
Federation of European Risk Management Associations (FERMA) We do not know what the next global threat will be, but we must prepare for it. Our aim must be to create both organisational and financial resilience. The pandemic has painfully demonstrated that many risks have become systemic, linked through technological revolutions…
Maintaining regulatory compliance
International Compliance Association A bruising 2020 has given way to an equally testing start to 2021. As progress with COVID-19 inches forward, few believe that life or business will return to how they were pre-pandemic. In the UK and elsewhere, there came the added uncertainty surrounding the end of the…
Digital transformation and the increased regulatory burden
Microsoft The UK Computer Misuse Act (1990) is one of the early pieces of legislation for securing computer material against attack. This Act, which came into being before the introduction of the world wide web and ubiquitous internet access, and when mobile phones were still bricks…
Lions and gazelles – the reality of the cyber jungle
Baker Tilly To understand the current state of cyber security risk, picture the golden sun rising over the plains in Africa. Each morning, the gazelle has one primary thought: “I must outrun the fastest lion today, or I will be eaten”. The lion, meanwhile, knows that in order to eat that day…
Handling the rise in cyber attacks in the era of remote work
Morrison & Foerster LLP The US Cyberspace Solarium Commission issued a supplemental white paper to address cyber security lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic. Among other things, the Commission highlighted that the significant surge in internet traffic, triggered in part by a…
The importance of curated data for robust portfolio and risk management
GRMA Only a few years ago, there was much hoopla in the global media around the term ‘big data’. Many people were led to believe that it had become possible to easily access and utilise massive amounts of data, resolving major challenges facing businesses and other institutions…
Four current regulatory risks facing US insurers
Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP This article will examine four possible evolving sources of regulatory risk affecting US insurance companies: one affecting carriers across all lines of business, one affecting life, one affecting property-casualty, and one affecting health. Historically, insurance company surplus…
Q&A: Effective legal risk management
FW discusses managing identity fraud risks with Matthew Nunan at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher UK LLP and Sean T. Seelinger at Ropes & Gray International LLP.
TALKINGpoint
Challenges facing the automotive sector
FW discusses challenges facing the automotive sector with Richard J. Cooper at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, Ryan Blaine Bennett at Kirkland & Ellis LLP, Trevor Borthwick at Mayer Brown, and Thomas Steinberger at PwC.
Digital transformation across the manufacturing sector
FW discusses digital transformation across the manufacturing sector with Don Matthew at KPMG.
DEALfront
mergers & acquisitions
Teledyne agrees $8bn FLIR Systems deal
Teledyne Technologies has agreed to acquire sensor and technology company FLIR Systems in a cash and stock transaction worth nearly $8bn. The deal is expected to close in the middle of 2021, subject to the receipt of required regulatory approval and the approval of the board of directors…
OptumInsight and Change Healthcare combine in $8bn deal
In an £8bn transaction that seeks to improve outcomes and experiences and lower the cost of healthcare, diversified health services company OptumInsight – part of UnitedHealth Group – is to merge with healthcare technology solutions provider Change Healthcare…
private equity & venture capital
Thoma Bravo to buy RealPage in $10.2bn deal
In a transformational deal for the real estate industry, software and data analytics provider RealPage has been acquired by private equity (PE) investment firm Thoma Bravo in an all-cash transaction valued at $10.2bn, including debt. Under the terms of the definitive agreement…
Vista Equity agrees $3.5bn Pluralsight deal
Vista Equity Partners is to acquire Pluralsight Inc in an all-cash transaction worth $3.5bn. Pluralsight shareholders will receive $20.26 per share, a premium of approximately 25 percent to the company’s volume weighted average closing stock price for the 30 trading days…
bankruptcy & corporate restructuring
Pacific Drilling emerges from Chapter 11
After filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for a second time in three years, offshore ultra-deepwater drilling company Pacific Drilling has emerged from the process once again, signalling the successful implementation of a restructuring support agreement (RSA). In accordance with the RSA…
24 Hour Fitness completes Chapter 11 process
On 30 December 2020, 24 Hour Fitness announced it had successfully emerged from the Chapter 11 restructuring process. The company now has greater financial strength with an optimised cost structure and leaner balance sheet after eliminating $1.2bn of funded debt and closing…
SPOTlight
National security: the UK’s new foreign investment screening regime
Davis Polk & Wardwell On 11 November 2020, the UK government published its National Security and Investment Bill (NS&I Bill), which introduces a new review system for transactions potentially giving rise to national security concerns. The planned regime is broad in scope, catching transactions even…
Unstructured data and regulatory risk: you cannot control what you cannot see
hivera The collection and currency of data has become ingrained in our daily lives. Every email, LinkedIn post, Word document and bank transfer contributes to the ever-expanding sea of data. We have gathered, shared and transferred information in our households, workplaces…
The new regime for digital competition in Europe – who is the gatekeeper?
Compass Lexecon The growth of the ‘internet giants’ has led to calls for increased antitrust (competition law) enforcement the world over. Some believe that existing laws and mechanisms are sufficient; others argue that the large digital platforms – particularly the GAFA firms Google, Apple…
What UAE businesses need to know about amended economic substance regulations
Grant Thornton UAE The severe economic impacts of coronavirus (COVID-19), coupled with the drop in oil prices, have increased fiscal pressure on regional tax authorities. Governments have already started to reassess their medium to long-term fiscal strategies to raise revenue to cover the costs of COVID-19…
Dentons The Biden administration’s energy policies are the most dynamic and transformative in recent US history. Climate change is the fulcrum for a comprehensive new ‘whole of government’ approach that will include every tool at the federal government’s disposal and virtually every…
CONTRIBUTORS
Baker Tilly
Brown Rudnick LLP
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP
Compass Lexecon
Davis Polk & Wardwell
Dentons
Dow Jones Risk & Compliance
Federation of European Risk Management Associations (FERMA)
FTI Consulting
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
Grant Thornton UAE
GRMA
hivera
Hogan Lovells International LLP
International Compliance Association
Kirkland & Ellis LLP
KPMG
Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP
Mayer Brown
Microsoft
Morrison & Foerster LLP
Novartis Pharma Services AG
Pinsent Masons LLP
PwC
Ropes & Gray International LLP
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP