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Hong Kong booms before the hand-over

With less than five months to go before it returns to Chinese control, Hong Kong is enjoying a surge in the property and securities markets as well as in the overall economy. Confidence is running high. Paul Lee reports

February 01 1997

Asian litigation

It has generally been the practice of the Inland Revenue of Hong Kong to disallow payments made on the closure of a business as being non-deductible expenses for the purpose of a profits tax computation. The Hong Kong Court of Appeal recently examined this practice in the context of severance (ie redundancy) payments in The Commissioner of Inland Revenue v Cosmotron Manufacturing (Civil Appeal No. 75 of 1996).

January 01 1997

Italy

On July 25 1996 the Bank of Italy introduced a number of amendments to the Regulations enacted on May 20 1994 to implement Law No. 86/1994 on real estate closed investment funds.

January 01 1997

Finland

A committee appointed by the Finnish Ministry of Finance has issued a proposal concerning amendments to the deposit guarantee scheme.

January 01 1997

Hong Kong

The Law Reform Commission has announced a plan that will give financially distressed companies the chance of avoiding insolvency proceedings by providing the company with a court-sanctioned moratorium from creditors while a provisional supervisor takes control of the company to restructure its debt.

January 01 1997

China

Shanghai has promulgated the New Regulations of Shanghai on the Examination and Approval of Foreign Investment Enterprises (the New Regulation), effective from October 1 1996. The New Regulation is significant in that it provides that the Shanghai Municipal People's Government shall, in accordance with state guidelines and the actual situation of Shanghai, formulate guidelines on foreign investment and the guiding directory of foreign investment enterprises for Shanghai.

January 01 1997

United News & Media wins Blenheim

Media group United News & Media, recently merged with MAI, has bought conference organizer Blenheim Group. The offer is worth about £590 million (US$970 million).

January 01 1997

Fund management merger

UK fund manager Invesco is buying US competitor AIM Management Group for US$1.6 billion. The deal creates a top five independent fund manager with more than US$150 billion under management.

January 01 1997

Asian countries ease rules for listing infrastucture projects

Public equity markets are beginning to play an important role in infrastructure finance. Roger Dyer and Ian Harvey-Samuel of Freshfields, Singapore, discuss the guidelines for listing infrastructure project companies in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand

January 01 1997

Tenet Healthcare wins OrNda

US hospital management company Tenet Healthcare has made a successful bid of US$1.8 billion in stock for rival OrNda Healthcorp. The merger creates a company with revenues of US$8.5 billion and 126 hospitals. Tenet also assumed US$1.3 billion of OrNda debt.

January 01 1997

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