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Below is an op-ed by Martin Lipton and William Savitt that appeared in the Financial Times on Tuesday, September 17, 2019. Martin Lipton William Savitt

Amendment laws implementing the Shareholders’ Rights Directive: Action Points for Boards of Austrian listed companies On 23 July 2019, amendments of the Stock Corporation Act and Stock Exchange Act implementing the Shareholder Rights Directive II (2017/828) entered into force. Directive 2017/628/EU to encourage long-term shareholder engagement was implemented with the aim to minimize the administrative … Continued

Executive Summary/Highlights: In Q2 2019, global M&A volume reached US$1 trillion for the quarter and surpassed US$2 trillion for the year to date. Global M&A volume in 2019 is on pace to reach the US$4 trillion mark for the second consecutive year and only the third time in the last decade. The significant global deal … Continued

Cross-Border M&A Guide Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz recently published the inaugural edition of their Cross-Border M&A Guide, which is available here. This new Cross-Border M&A Guide covers the key U.S. legal considerations not only for acquisitions of U.S. companies by non-U.S. companies (or “inbound” M&A transactions), but also for acquisitions of non-U.S. companies, including … Continued

Bill implementing the Shareholders’ Rights Directive: what it means for Dutch listed companies On 2 April 2019, the bill implementing the revised Shareholder Rights Directive was adopted by the Lower House of Parliament. The bill was amended to take into account a number of modifications to the initial draft. The implementation of Directive 2017/628/EU to … Continued

Executive Summary/Highlights: Global M&A volume, which exceeded US$4.0 trillion in 2018, continued at a similar pace in Q1 2019, reaching US$958 billion. Global M&A volume in the first quarter of the year has been primarily driven by record levels of deal activity in the United States. It was the most active first quarter for U.S. … Continued

“Grand Unification” Era of China’s Administration on Foreign Investment – A Brief Commentary on the New Foreign Investment Law On December 26, 2018, the National People’s Congress published the Foreign Investment Law of the People’s Republic of China (Draft) (the “Draft”) in order to solicit public opinion. Based on a wide variety of opinions received … Continued

Spotlight on Boards The ever-evolving challenges facing corporate boards prompt periodic updates to a snapshot of what is expected from the board of directors of a major public company—not just the legal rules, or the principles published by institutional investors and various corporate and investor associations, but also the aspirational “best practices” that have come … Continued

Cross-Border M&A – 2019 Checklist for Successful Acquisitions in the United States M&A in 2018 began with a bang, with more than $350 billion of deals in January 2018 – a January level not seen since 2000 – and much chatter that M&A volume for the year could hit an all-time record. As it turned … Continued

Dealing with Activist Hedge Funds and Other Activist Investors Introduction Regardless of industry, size or performance, no company should consider itself immune from hedge fund activism. No company is too large, too popular, too new or too successful. Even companies that are respected industry leaders and have outperformed the market and their peers have come … Continued