We are delighted to inform you of the publication of Ecosystem Edge: Sustaining Competitiveness in the Face of Disruption, a fascinating new book authored by Professor Peter Williamson of Cambridge Judge Business School, who is an XBMA Founding Director, and Professor Arnoud De Meyer of Singapore Management University, who co-hosted the recent XBMA Singapore symposium. An introduction to some … Continued
Executive Summary/Highlights Global M&A volume was just US$730 billion in Q1 2020, a decrease of approximately 30% from Q4 2019 (US$1 trillion), approximately 25% from Q1 2019 (US$982 billion) and the lowest first-quarter global M&A volume since 2014 (US$657 billion). The decline in M&A volume relative to prior quarters was particularly pronounced in the United … 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
CONTRACTS / FORCE MAJEURE Is the COVID-19 pandemic (“Pandemic”) a force majeure event? A party may be excused for non-performance under a contract if the non-performance is a direct and immediate result of an event which constitutes an act of God or force majeure. Decrees by the Moscow mayor and regulations issued by heads of … Continued
*Originally distributed on April 13, 2020 The social and economic turmoil unleashed by the global spread of COVID-19 and the collapse in the price of crude oil has brought to the fore a number of critical incident and systemic risk management concerns, including traditional ESG concerns such as human capital issues, business model and supply … Continued
The Coming Impact of ESG Recent months have seen institutional investors and other stakeholders, notably BlackRock and State Street, stressing the importance of comparable and decision-useful ESG disclosures by their portfolio companies. Such calls follow in the wake of growing interest among investors and other stakeholders in understanding and assessing the performance of companies based … Continued
*This article was originally distributed on January 21, 2020 In our annual forecast of the year ahead for Canadian competition and foreign investment review law, we evaluate how developments in 2019 will influence these areas of the law in 2020. We discuss below the main issues and trends to watch for this year. Continued Focus … 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
On December 31, 2019, the Implementing Regulations of the Foreign Investment Law of the People’s Republic of China (the “Regulation”), an important administrative regulation facilitating the implementation of the Foreign Investment Law of the People’s Republic of China (“Foreign Investment Law”), was officially published. It came into force on January 1, 2020, together with the … 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
