MAGAZINE
October 2017 Issue
Financier Worldwide Magazine
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COVER STORY
Reparation and redress: ethical solutions to graceless governance
The extent to which ethical behaviour correlates with profitability has been the million dollar question for businesses since time immemorial, with no easy answer. To put it another way: is good ethics good business? In this regard, if the revelations...
FEATURES
Organisations pursue mergers and acquisitions (M&As) for a variety of reasons, including growth, to access intellectual property or to gain market access, among others. Properly executed, an M&A deal can generate significant value for an organisation...
Private investments and PE skyrocket in 2017
Despite persistent uncertainty in the global economy, the private equity (PE) industry has performed well in 2017 to date. Though there has been speculation that deal activity may slow down as fund managers taking a cautious approach toward fresh funding...
OPBAS set to boost AML in the UK
A scourge on professional services at all ends of the spectrum, global money laundering transactions have been estimated to equate to 2 to 5 percent of global gross domestic product (GDP) or approximately $1 to 2 trillion per year. A scam that can...
The enemy within: tackling insider threats
Insider threats have been increasing exponentially across the corporate world in recent years. The enemy within is now classed as one of the likeliest sources of a data security breach. For any company unfortunate enough to find itself the victim...
Global sanctions – compliance and enforcement trends
Sanctions are an essential and unavoidable facet of the modern global economy. For firms in the financial services sector in particular, navigating the shifting regulatory landscape can be a difficult task. With third parties, clients and staff all potential...
ROUNDTABLE
THE PANELLISTS: Keith E. Broyles, Alston & Bird LLP; R. David Donoghue, Holland & Knight LLP; Anthony M. Insogna, Jones Day; Paul Collier, Kirkland & Ellis LLP; Joseph Reisman, Knobbe Martens; Sherry M. Knowles, Knowles Intellectual Property Strategies, LLC; James Cross, Maucher Jenkins; and Douglas R. Nemec, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP.
The patents disputes arena has been particularly disruptive over the past 12 months, with several key trends and developments emerging. Among them is the continued impact of the America Invents Act (AIA), the awarding of lower damages...
SPECIAL REPORT
International dispute resolution
A dispute confined to a single nation is one thing, but when a disagreement erupts across international borders, the complexities involved, maybe even the stakes, are usually higher. Disputes in an international context may well be subject...
FORUM: Impact of AI and technology on litigation
FW moderates a discussion on the impact of AI and technology on litigation between Tony Sykes at IT Group UK Ltd and Darren Pauling at KPMG.
When to provide for litigation, arbitration, mediation or a combination of each
Latham & Watkins Each method of dispute resolution has its own features that may be benefits or downsides, depending upon your perspective and circumstances. In many cases, parties select either court litigation or arbitration, depending upon what suits them...
Overview of third-party funding internationally
McCarthy Tétrault LLP The use of third-party capital to fund legal disputes has become increasingly prevalent in recent years, both domestically within certain jurisdictions and internationally. Through third-party funding, an entity with no legal status in a dispute will fund...
Is international arbitration a reliable forum for dispute resolution?
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP In the nearly 60 years since the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards (New York Convention) entered into force, several factors have come to influence the reliability of international arbitration as a forum..
International enforcement of judgments and arbitration awards
Watson Farley & Williams LLP Sometimes dispute types are like busses, nothing for a long time and then several come at once. Often it is just coincidence. Sometimes, track records or industry specialisation tends to generate more of the same type of work. However, increases...
Witness evidence in international commercial arbitration
Peter & Partners Whether in real or fictional trials, witness evidence often captures the popular imagination. It is exciting to pit the advocate’s art against the professed recollections of the witness. Usually it is the fearless defence lawyer in a murder trial who bores...
A note to general counsel: protecting foreign investments using investment treaties
Shearman & Sterling LLP In early 2017, a Canadian mining company found its most important mining asset in a Latin American country subject to unexpected legislative changes that virtually wiped out the value of the mine. In examining the company’s potential recourses, the...
The 2016 Russian guidelines on future BITs: have your cake and eat it
Khrenov & Partners A system of bilateral investment treaties (BITs) is expanding every year with more and more getting negotiated. It is becoming very common for investors to structure their investments in such a way as to ensure not only the most efficient tax regime...
Q&A: Pre-empting and managing shareholder disputes
FW moderates a discussion on pre-empting and managing shareholder disputes between Ben Walton at Forsters LLP, Noelle M. Reed at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates, Deborah Finkler at Slaughter and May, Toby Robinson at Travers Smith LLP, and Jamie Maples at Weil, Gotshal & Manges (London) LLP.
DEALfront
mergers & acquisitions
Aberdeen Asset and Standard Life complete £11bn merger
In a transaction which creates Europe’s second-biggest fund manager, Aberdeen Asset Management PLC and Standard Life plc have completed an £11bn merger to become Standard Life Aberdeen plc. First announced in March 2017, the deal between...
US payments firm Vantiv agrees $10bn deal to buy Worldpay
Worldpay, the UK’s largest payment processing company, has agreed to be bought out by US rival Vantiv in a deal worth $10.4bn. Vantiv has offered 55 pence in cash, 0.0672 of a new Vantiv share, an interim dividend of 0.8 pence per Worldpay share...
private equity & venture capital
Combining to create a new industry leading medical transportation company, Air Medical Group Holdings Inc. (AMGH), an entity controlled by funds affiliated with multinational private equity firm KKR, and American Medical Response (AMR)...
Mexichem agrees $1.5bn acquisition of PE-backed Netafim
Mexican chemical firm Mexichem has agreed to buy an 80 percent stake in Israeli irrigation firm Netafim from shareholders led by Permira, the private equity firm that owns 61 percent of Netafim, for $1.5bn. The deal values the company at...
bankruptcy & corporate restructuring
Air Berlin files for bankruptcy
Bringing to an end the story of one of Europe’s largest network airlines, Air Berlin has filed for bankruptcy following the withdrawal of financial support by its biggest shareholder, Abu Dhabi-based airline Etihad. A beleaguered business, passenger...
Nuverra completes successful restructuring
Nuverra Environmental Solutions, Inc announced in August that it had emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after eliminating more than $500m of outstanding debt. The company filed for pre-packaged Chapter 11...
TALKINGpoint
Valuing embedded optionality and other complexities in energy contracts
FW moderates a discussion on the complexities of energy contracts between Dr James Dimech-DeBono, Patrick Hébréard and Nils von Hinten-Reed at CEG.
Tackling distress in the US healthcare sector
FW moderates a discussion on tackling distress in the US healthcare sector between Marshall Glade at GlassRatner, Felicia Gerber Perlman at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates and Ana Alfonso at Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP.
FW speaks with David Bryan at BM&T about how companies can prepare for Brexit.
SPOTlight
A quick review of the literature regarding the ‘small-cap premium’
ALFA Valuation & Advisory It is somewhat intuitive that small-cap stocks can be expected to generate higher returns than large-cap equities and therefore, a priori, generate greater risk. They also tend to be “more volatile and have less analyst coverage which may increase...
Snap judgment – S&P Dow Jones and FTSE Russell indices ensure that investors retain voting rights
Berman Tabacco Silicon Valley is known for disrupting industries, and some of its most storied residents seem ready to upend the IPO world, not with technology, but with moxie. The parent company of the popular mobile messaging app Snapchat, Snap, Inc., made headlines...
CONTRIBUTORS
ALFA Valuation & Advisory
Alston & Bird LLP
Berman Tabacco
BM&T
CEG
Forsters LLP
GlassRatner
Holland & Knight LLP
IT Group UK Ltd
Jones Day
Khrenov & Partners
Kirkland & Ellis LLP
Knobbe Martens
Knowles Intellectual Property Strategies, LLC
KPMG.
Latham & Watkins
Maucher Jenkins
McCarthy Tétrault LLP
Peter & Partners
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP
Shearman & Sterling LLP
Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
Slaughter and May
Travers Smith LLP,
Watson Farley & Williams LLP
Weil, Gotshal & Manges (London) LLP
Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP