Executive Summary/Highlights: The new Dutch Corporate Governance Code, issued December 8, 2016, provides an interesting analog to The New Paradigm, A Roadmap for an Implicit Corporate Governance Partnership Between Corporations and Investors to Achieve Sustainable Long-Term Investment and Growth, issued September 2, 2016, by the International Business Council of the World Economic Forum. The new … Continued
Executive Summary: Recent amendments to the UK’s City Code on Takeovers and Mergers, the main rules governing takeovers in the UK, are discussed below. The most significant changes resulting from these amendments are: (i) it will allow offerors to engage in early and have increased involvement with the offeree’s pension trustees in an offer; and … Continued
Highlights: The European Commission has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Chinese National Development and Reform Commission and the Chinese State Administration of Industry and Commerce. These anti-trust authorities seek to increase cooperation and information exchange by facilitating greater technical cooperation regarding cartels, restrictive agreements and abuses of market dominance. In recent years, the … Continued
Executive Summary: In cross-border acquisitions, more than one country’s tax rules will apply. English law is frequently chosen to govern such transactions. This article highlights a number of the main tax issues arising in cross-border share and asset purchases, and discusses how some of these issues can be eliminated or mitigated through efficient structuring or … Continued
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
Executive summary: The U.K .government confirms the anticipated merger of the Competition Commission and the competition functions of the OFT into a single Competition and Markets Authority (“CMA”) to be effective by April 2014. The U.K. government has decided to retain the current voluntary regime of merger notifications, albeit with a tightening of administrative measures. … Continued
Executive summary: The linked memorandum identifies the issues facing financial institutions that do not have sufficiently positive and proactive relationships with their regulators to influence the ways in which new regulatory principles and rules will be applied to them, explains how some of the traditional responses of financial institutions to regulatory change are now outdated, … Continued
Executive summary: The linked memorandum is a general guide to takeovers of UK incorporated and listed companies subject to The City Code on Takeovers and Mergers. It first describes the UK bodies which regulate takeovers of such companies and then summarizes the more important legislation and rules under which they do so. Click here to … Continued
Executive Summary/Highlights: The UK Bribery Act 2010 has far reaching territorial application and can even apply to Russian companies. Affected companies must now have in place adequate internal anti-bribery procedures and ensure the same compliance of any of its associated persons. Strong contractual protections may prove necessary to limit exposure to prosecution under the Act. … Continued
Executive summary: A revised edition of the UK Takeover Code took effect on 19 September 2011. The revisions were prompted by Kraft’s hostile takeover of Cadbury in 2010, which triggered debate about the weak position of UK target companies. The revised Code introduces rules to strengthen the target’s position, namely an enforced “put up or … Continued
