The Netherlands

EU Update – European Union and Singapore Initial Free Trade Agreement

Highlights: The establishment of a free trade area between the EU and Singapore is expected to have significant benefits for Singapore and EU companies. Annual EU exports to Singapore could rise by EUR 1.4 billion over 10 years and annual exports by Singapore companies (including EU companies based in Singapore) could rise by EUR 3.5 … Continued

Editors’ Note: Geert Potjewijd is a partner at De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek, resident in Beijing, and a member of XBMA’s Legal Roundtable. This paper was authored by Dieter Wolff and Jaap de Keijzer, both partners at De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek. De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek is a leading Dutch law firm with broad expertise in M&A and governance matters.

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UK UPDATE – Understanding and Dealing with Hedge Funds and Shareholder Activism Across Europe: The Impact of the Financial Crisis

Executive summary: The attached guide takes a pan-European look at trends and developments through the 2008 financial crisis and in the period since, focusing on: the position of hedge funds: their behaviour, performance and strategies in that period, as well as the changed regulatory landscape they now face, and activist behaviour by both hedge funds … Continued

Editors’ Note:  Contributed by Nigel Boardman, a partner at Slaughter and May and a founding director of XBMA.  Mr. Boardman is one of the leading M&A lawyers in the UK with broad experience in a wide range of cross-border transactions.

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EU UPDATE – European Commission Considers Whether All Chinese SOEs should be Considered a Single Economic Entity for Merger Clearance Purposes

Executive Summary: The European Commission recently issued clearance under the merger control rules for the proposed joint venture between DSM and Sinochem. The Commission considered the question of whether all Chinese State-Owned Enterprises (so called “SOEs”) should be considered a single economic entity, but left the question open for future determination after concluding that even … Continued

Editors’ Note:  Kees Peijster, Eric Pijnacker Hordijk and Geert Potjewijd are partners at De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek, resident in Amsterdam and Beijing, respectively, and are members of XBMA’s Legal Roundtable.  As leading Dutch M&A lawyers, they have broad expertise handling significant cross-border transactions involving China and the Netherlands, including the DSM/Sinochem transaction described below.  The issue of whether to view all Chinese SOEs as a single economic entity, and therefore to aggregate their ownership interests, could have important implications under many regulatory regimes and could prove to be rather controversial.  We invite comments and additional papers on this topic.

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XBMA – Quarterly Review for Q1 2011

The attached slides summarize trends in cross-border M&A and strategic investment activity throughout the first quarter of 2011.   Highlights: Global M&A volume for Q1 2011 was US$671.8 billion, up 29.5% as compared to Q1 2010. Cross-border transactions have rebounded substantially from 2009: 38% of Q1 2011 global M&A was cross-border — up slightly from … Continued

Editor's Note: This is an example of the type of post and content the XBMA Forum seeks to showcase.

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