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The Privy Council (with judgment delivered by Lord Millett) has overruled the Court of Appeal decision of In re New Bullas Trading Limited [1994] I BCLC 449 by stating that it is not possible to obtain a fixed charge on uncollected book debts by treating the uncollected debts and their proceeds as two separate assets and creating a fixed charge over the uncollected debts with a floating charge over the proceeds.

The Federal Act on Investment Funds (IFA) is to be revised in view of certain changes to pertinent EU directives. At present, the investment companies quoted on the Swiss stock exchange and incorporated as joint stock companies (Aktiengesellschaften) pursuant to Article 620 et seq Swiss Code of Obligations do not fall under the scope of the IFA. The Federal Banking Commission (FBC) intends that this revision should be taken as an opportunity to enlarge the scope of the IFA. The IFA governs assets which are managed under a collective investment contract and excludes assets that are managed in a different form, particular in corporate form (Article 3 para 1 and 2, IFA). The FBC takes the position that this provision contradicts the principle of "same business, same rules". Furthermore, the existing legislation contains an unequal treatment of Swiss closed-end investment funds on the one hand and foreign funds on the other hand. Pursuant to Article 3 para 3, foreign investment funds whose units are distributed in Switzerland are governed by the IFA regardless of their legal structure.

The offering of stock options by foreign companies to their employees in Portugal has raised a series of questions under the new Portuguese Securities Market Code. The main question is whether the stock options are negotiable securities. If they are, they must be qualified either as a public or a private offer of securities and will have to comply with the public or private offering rules, which involve different procedures and requirements in Portugal.

The post-handover rollercoaster ride for Hong Kong looks like it is heading for another dip as economic growth stalls. Nick Ferguson reports on the divergent strategies taken by law firms in the territory and assesses their likely success in cushioning the landing and preparing firms for when the ride takes off again

Volatile markets, near defaults, attorney lay-offs, protests, record debt swaps, new capital markets rules, street barricades, law firm break ups. It’s all happening in Argentina. But which firms are faring best in the crisis that doesn’t seem to end? Tom Nicholson went to Buenos Aires to find out

Hengeler Mueller is to lose a partner to one of its allied firms for the first time, forcing the closure of the German firm's Italian desk. Martin Hartl, a Hengeler mergers and acquisitions (M&A) specialist who also runs the firm's Italian advisory division, will join leading Italian corporate, antitrust and securities firm Bonelli Erede Pappalardo, which has a best friends relationship with the German firm, later this year. He is likely to move between October and January, after he completes the deals he is still working on for Hengeler in Berlin.

Allen & Overy has returned to Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe's Singapore office to collect what it left behind the first time, namely Hooman Sabeti-Rahmati. Allen & Overy hired Ken Aboud from the New York firm in November and is now reuniting him with former colleague Sabeti-Rahmati, an associate who will work alongside Aboud in the firm's securitization practice.

Europe's lawmakers and regulators stepped away from the harmonization of financial legislation last month after German, Spanish and Italian politicians sunk a last-ditch compromise on pan-European takeover legislation. Corporate lawyers are dismayed at the European Parliament's failure to ratify the deal, hammered out in June after last-minute German objections to the restriction of defensive measures.

Despite having one of the most securitization-friendly legal regimes in Asia, Hong Kong’s originators have not yet embraced the technique. Patrick Lines of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in Hong Kong reviews the development of the market and the possibilities for growth

On July 18 2001 Hong Kong’s telecoms regulator published the information memorandum and auction rules that will govern the auction of four 3G licences. Applications to participate in the auction must be submitted on September 17 or 18 2001. Vivianne Jabbour, Gabriela Kennedy and John Hartley, of Lovells’ Hong Kong office, consider some of the most important issues raised by the rules