MAGAZINE
November 2013 Issue
Financier Worldwide Magazine
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COVER STORY
With Asia emerging as a global engine of economic growth, the region’s requirement for energy and resources has rocketed. In meeting this demand, governments have been forced to confront the twin issues of finite resources and environmental degradation, so it should come as no...
FEATURES
Microsoft to buy Nokia’s mobile unit
Microsoft Corporation has agreed to a buy Nokia Corporation’s mobile phone business for $7.2bn. The deal, announced on 3 September, will see Microsoft purchase Nokia’s Devices and Services business, licence Nokia’s patents for a 10 year period and licence and...
Outlook poor as mining M&A slumps
The mining industry suffered a fairly poor start to 2013 with both deal volume and value falling compared with the same period in 2012. Volatility in the mining sector had a significant impact on the industry during H1 2013, according to a recent report from PwC. In...
PE and VC in Latin America increases
The recent decision by the US Federal Reserve to bring to an end its program of quantitative easing has caused significant unrest across many emerging markets. Nations such as South Africa and India in particular have seen substantial outflows of capital this year as the supply of...
UK requires National Infrastructure Commission
It is a commonly held belief that infrastructure projects promote economic growth. Certainly, investment in modern infrastructure projects can help to lay the foundations for economic development going forward. Not only does the construction of large scale infrastructure projects...
The JOBS Act: a game changer for crowdsourcing?
The implementation of the Jumpstart Our Business Startup (JOBS) Act, heralded as a ‘game changer’ by President Obama, is well underway. On 23 September, Title II of the JOBS Act went into effect, marking a historic day for entrepreneurship and financing in the US...
ROUNDTABLE
THE MODERATOR: James D. Ratley, Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. THE PANELLISTS: Jerry Oldham, 1stWEST Financial Corporation; Jay G. Martin, Baker Hughes; Duncan Aldred, CMS Cameron McKenna LLP; Klaus Moosmayer, Siemens AG; Matthew R. A. Heiman, Tyco; and Paul Feldberg, Willkie Farr & Gallagher (UK) LLP.
Despite the best efforts of regulators and enforcement agencies, corporate fraud continues to flourish. In recent years, business and financial institutions have become acutely aware of the risk, particularly as a renewed focus on whistleblowing has expanded the toolset of...
SPECIAL REPORT
The rapid pace of global growth and change has bought major challenges for the energy & natural resources sector, but also opportunities. The industry faces sweeping reforms aimed at...
FORUM: Managing energy and natural resources industry disputes
FW moderates a discussion on energy and natural resources industry disputes between Kai-Uwe Karl at GE Oil & Gas and Jonathan Leach at Hogan Lovells Lee & Lee.
Burnet, Duckworth & Palmer LLP Foreign direct investment in Canada is down significantly in 2013 – both in terms of the number of deals and in the size of deals. While there is no doubt more than one reason for this, a significant portion of the decline can be attributed to Canada’s new foreign...
The electricity distribution sector in Ontario: the slow road to consolidation
Aird & Berlis LLP In 1998, the introduction of Ontario’s Energy Competition Act (ECA) and Electricity Act (EA) signalled the start of the restructuring of Ontario’s electricity sector, bringing to Canada the wave of liberalisation of electricity markets that had...
The pre-salt oil and gas areas in Brazil – first production-sharing regime bidding round
Villemor Amaral Advogados In November 2007, Petrobras made one of the most important announcements in its history: the discovery of a giant oil reservoir, located in the so called Tupi field, a region defined as pre-salt area, which consists of prospective oil reserves located under an extensive layer of...
Bird & Bird LLP On 20 September 2013 the Council of Ministers approved the draft Law of the Electric Sector to replace existing Law 54/1997. The Official Gazette of the Spanish Congress (Boletín Oficial de las Cortes Generales) published on 4 October 2013 the draft law which will be...
DEALfront
mergers & acquisitions
Tokyo Electron acquired by Applied Materials
In one of the largest ever purchases of a Japanese company by an overseas buyer, Tokyo Electron Limited has been sold to US firm Applied Materials Inc in an all stock deal worth $10bn. The deal for Tokyo Electron has been unanimously agreed by the boards of both...
BlackBerry agrees to $4.7bn privatisation
BlackBerry Limited announced in late September that it had agreed to be acquired by a consortium of Canadian investment companies led by Fairfax Financial Holdings Ltd, in an all cash deal valued at $4.7bn. The company noted that a letter of intent had been signed...
private equity & venture capital
Umpqua acquires Sterling Financial for $2bn
Umpqua Holdings Corporation has announced that it will merge with Sterling Financial Corporation in a deal worth approximately $2bn. The deal has been approved by the boards of both companies and is expected to be completed in the first half of 2014, provided it wins...
KKR buys Panasonic Healthcare Co for $1.67bn
Private equity powerhouse Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co LP (KKR) has agreed to acquire Panasonic Corp’s healthcare division in a deal that will likely represent the biggest buyout of the year in Asia. Panasonic’s decision to divest the unit comes as...
bankruptcy & corporate restructuring
Fresh & Easy placed into bankruptcy protection
On 30 September, British supermarket chain Tesco Plc placed its US grocery store chain Fresh & Easy Neighbourhood Market, into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in order to help facilitate the unit’s sale to Los Angeles billionaire Ron Burkle. In its court filing, Fresh...
GateHouse Media files for pre-packaged Chapter 11
GateHouse Media Inc, a company which owns hundreds of small and mid-sized community and weekly newspapers across the US, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in late September after the company’s creditors overwhelmingly approved its restructuring plan. According to...
PROFESSIONALinsight
Finance & Investment
Project finance at a crossroad: why hedge fund involvement may change governmental monetary policy
Americans United for Government Reform The drying wells of cross-border bank lending will likely have a significant impact on the capabilities of countries in the emerging and developing world to plan and execute large projects in theirpursuit of industrialisation and modernisation. European banks, long the dominant...
Responsible investment: the challenge of integration
Waterman Group It is widely recognised that investment by financial institutions is a driving force in the world’s economy. It is their influence and power over companies globally that make their involvement in and contribution to sustainability an essential element to its success. In the...
Financial reform: amendments to ease loan collection
Barrera, Siqueiros y Torres Landa The Executive Branch recently submitted a bill to the Mexican Congress which, if approved, would result in a significant overhaul of the Mexican financial regulation. The bill has already been approved by the Mexican House of Representatives, with some amendments, and is now being...
Why prefer the preferred – subtleties of the preferred capital
IndusLaw This year, the month of April alone saw the total foreign direct investment (FDI) in India reach approximately Rs. 12,623 crores (US$2.32bn), according to the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion. This represents a 31 percent increase from April 2012, at a time when the...
Risk Management
New EU Directive against cybercrime: the quest for the Golden Fleece?
Cugia Cuomo & Associati Following the echoes of the PRISM scandal and Snowden’s revelations, rumours in Europe have it that the so-called ‘Article 42’ draft new privacy regulation (expected sometime next year) is now to contemplate a further provision, forcing multinational companies to...
European proposals to counter growing threats to cybersecurity
Duane Morris LLP The European Commission has proposed bringing in additional new laws to try and deal with the growing threats to cybersecurity. It is undoubtedly the case that the number and severity of cyber-attacks are on the rise. Financial institutions, large and small, are increasingly a...
Boardroom Intelligence
Preparing for shareholder activism
Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP The impact of shareholder activism in the market, the boardroom and the C-suite continues to grow. High-profile activist campaigns – often involving hedge funds that leverage substantial minority investments to push for change – have attracted extraordinary media...
Non-executive directors: an overview of their role, duties and obligations in Brazil
Siqueira Castro Advogados In recent decades, the corporate environment has seen significant changes to issues regarding the corporate governance landscape, raising public, political and investor appreciation of this issue and introducing a greater awareness among all corporate entities of the need for an...
SPOTlight
Will the creation of the Brazilian Takeover Panel affect the country’s M&A practice?
Veirano Advogados The Brazilian capital market has shown significant development during the last 10 years, with an impressive increase in listed companies and trading volume. It has also attracted a large number of foreign investors from different parts of the globe. Not by coincidence the country...
Russian courts question the validity of foreign bank loans
Jones Day Russian state commercial courts in different regions have recently considered whether a non-Russian bank can make a loan to a Russian borrower. Surprisingly, these courts unexpectedly declared such loans void. One of those decisions has been cancelled at the appellate level, but it...
Changing corruption laws in India and its effect on business
Control Risks The last few years in India have seen numerous, innovative fraud and corruption cases. With newspapers reporting a new issue, a new fraud or corruption case, across industry sectors regularly, it is a question of whether there is enough in terms of law and enforcement to take action...
The United States strikes again – the new Swiss bank program
Rosenberg Martin Greenberg, LLP The United States has taken another giant leap forward in its aggressive pursuit of individuals and entities who attempt to evade, or help others evade, US tax reporting and payment obligations through the use of foreign accounts, structures, and financial arrangements. On 29 August...
Frommer Lawrence & Haug LLP What the FDA will do to proactively manage the process to share Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies (REMS) is a hot button topic that many in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry have been wondering, particularly as the FDA looks to standardise REMS. The Food and Drug...
How will China's economy affect American businesses?
Diaz Reus & Targ, LLP While many countries today would envy a 7.4 percent economic expansion rate, for China – the world’s second largest economy and the United States’ second largest trading partner – that number suggests the lowest economic growth rate in 13 years…
CONTRIBUTORS
1stWEST Financial Corporation
Aird & Berlis LLP
Americans United for Government Reform
Association of Certified Fraud Examiners
Baker Hughes
Barrera, Siqueiros y Torres Landa
Bird & Bird LLP
Burnet, Duckworth & Palmer LLP
CMS Cameron McKenna LLP
Control Risks
Cugia Cuomo & Associati
Diaz Reus & Targ, LLP
Duane Morris LLP
Frommer Lawrence & Haug LLP
GE Oil & Gas
Hogan Lovells Lee & Lee
IndusLaw
Jones Day
Rosenberg Martin Greenberg, LLP
Siemens AG
Siqueira Castro Advogados
Veirano Advogados
Villemor Amaral Advogados
Waterman Group
Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP
Willkie Farr & Gallagher (UK) LLP