Governance

*Originally distributed on December 16, 2022. As anticipated in our February 2021 memo, the terms “natural capital,” “biodiversity,” “nature loss,” “ecosystem restoration” and the like have increasingly entered the investor and corporate lexicon.  This has accelerated since the publication of The Economics of Biodiversity:  The Dasgupta Review, the groundbreaking independent study commissioned by the U.K. … Continued

*Originally distributed on May 27, 2021.  Developments this week highlight the urgent imperative for boards and management teams to address climate-related challenges as part of their regular risk assessment practices: A Dutch court held Royal Dutch Shell partially responsible for global warming and ordered the company to reduce its carbon emissions. Engine No. 1, an … Continued

Some Thoughts for Boards of Directors in 2021 Martin Lipton, Steven A. Rosenblum, Karessa L. Cain, Hannah Clark and Bita Assad Many of the challenges that corporations and their boards have encountered in 2020 will continue to be front and center in 2021, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the movement to address racial injustice and broad-based … Continued

The widely reported lawsuit against Google, brought this week by the Department of Justice and 11 state attorneys general, marks the most significant antitrust enforcement action in the United States against a major technology company in two decades.  As set out briefly below, the suit warrants careful consideration, both for what it alleges and what … Continued

The volatility in global markets caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic uncertainty has put activist shareholders and defending against opportunistic bids at the top of the agenda for listed companies. We have set out below 14 key considerations relating to shareholder activism that Irish-incorporated listed companies should be focused on in the current … Continued

Nasdaq has introduced a “Nordic Main Market Rulebook for Issuers of Shares” (the “Rulebook”), comprising Nasdaq Copenhagen, Nasdaq Helsinki, Nasdaq Iceland and Nasdaq Stockholm (the “Exchanges”). The Rulebook entered into force on 1 May 2020 and is comprised of two parts. The first part is a harmonized set of rules applicable to issuers of shares … Continued

This is a revised summary version of our initial client memos regarding the crisis. In his speech on March 16, President Macron stated, “we are at war,” six times.  Since then, businesses continue to assimilate and react to the radical changes that have occurred over the last weeks.  The government and various regulators, including the … Continued

Cross-Border M&A – 2020 Checklist for Successful Acquisitions in the United States M&A continued its robust pace in 2019, with nearly $3.9 trillion in global deal volume for the year, the third-highest volume of the last decade.  The U.S. market was particularly strong, making up for relative weakness in Europe and Asia.  The boom was … Continued

Crystal Ball Gazing 2020 2020 introduces a new decade, one which already promises to be an exciting one for the legal sector and society in general.  In this special newsletter, De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek gazes into the crystal ball and highlights some of the more important trends and developments which could very well affect or … Continued

Accelerating ESG Disclosure— WEF Task Force Releases Preliminary Framework Centered on Mainstream Reporting Aligned with UN Sustainable Development Goals Reflecting the growing push among investors, asset managers, companies and other stakeholders for a standardized ESG disclosure framework, a task force sponsored by the International Business Council (IBC) of the World Economic Forum (WEF), has released … Continued