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Highlights: Chinese state owned enterprise investment into Australia’s resources sector is helping create unprecedented high-levels of M&A activity. In recent years, Australia’s Foreign Investment Review Board has taken steps to balance the benefits and risks created by this influx by successive revisions or elaborations of the foreign investment policy, amendments to the regulatory framework and … Continued

Highlights:  As we enter 2012 and as the U.S. economy continues to stabilize, there appears to be a growing sense of optimism about further recovery in the M&A market.  Greater perseverance and transactional creativity and sophistication will continue in 2012 as parties seek to manage and allocate risks in a structured manner in an environment … Continued

Click here to see the Review Executive Summary/Highlights:  During the first half of 2011, global M&A continued the resurgence that began in the second half of 2010, but markets cooled in the second half of 2011, resulting in aggregate volume of US$2.38 trillion in 2011 (down 7% compared to 2010). Stock market volatility, fear of … Continued

This paper is the first in a series of papers on the choice of law in international M&A transactions. We invite further papers on this topic. Highlights: Despite developments in Russian corporate legislation, the mergers and acquisitions and international finance markets in Russia still heavily rely on English law. Business partners in Russia often choose … Continued

Executive Summary/Highlights: An amendment to the Austrian Foreign Trade Act (FTA), in force since 8 December 2011 subjects the acquisition of certain interests in enterprises in specific industries (including telecoms and energy) by non-EU, non-EEA and non-Swiss persons, to review and approval by the Austrian Ministry of Economic Affairs Approval must be sought before entering … Continued

Highlights: Offer and acceptance letters’ inclusion of phrase “subject to contract” was , in the context of the factual matrix, found to make clear the intent of the parties that they were not to be contractually bound until a formal agreement was negotiated and executed. While the Court in this case found that no contract … Continued

Highlights: On November 22, 2011 the State Duma of theRussian Federationpassed a new package of amendments to the antitrust laws in the third reading. The proposed “Third Antitrust Package”, which still has to be approved by the Council of Federation and then signed by the President, changes antitrust regulation significantly. In expectation of the innovations, … Continued

Highlights:  The U.S. Steel settlement allows the Canadian government to avoid protracted litigation while underscoring its intended message, namely that foreign investors must take their Investment Canada Act undertakings seriously. It also comes against the backdrop of recent statements by the Prime Minister and Minister of Industry Paradis that while the Canadian government continues to … Continued

MAIN ARTICLE The Tax on Financial Transactions (“IOF”) is a Brazilian umbrella-type tax comprising different tax modalities, each levied on a different type of financial transaction that is carried out in Brazil. The IOF taxes are regarded as “extrafiscal”, meaning that they have economic and financial purposes other than those strictly related to the collection … Continued

Highlights: Low gearing, strong earnings and good capital availability supported an ideal environment for mergers & acquisitions (M&A) in the first half of 2011. However, jittery markets and dropping confidence caused activity to slow in the third quarter. While deal values in the first nine months of 2011 are up 67% on the same period … Continued