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Colombian companies are increasingly looking forward to expanding their capacity into new markets and increasing their local capacity. The merger of companies is a useful instrument to enhance this capacity.

Nearly 75% of the voting capital, corresponding to about 30% of the total capital of Eletropaulo Metropolina was sold at auction for about US$1.8 billion on April 15. Eletropaulo Metropolina was the largest of the two distribution networks of Eletropaulo which, in turn, was the largest distributor of electricity in Latin America. The participation was acquired by Light, already a distributor of electricity in Rio de Janeiro, controlled by a consortium formed by Companhia Siderúgica Nacional, the American companies Huston and AES and the French company EDF.

Under Swiss law, domestic investment funds, including hedge funds, are to be organized either as investment companies or multiple investors' contracts. Multiple investors' contracts will be governed by the Swiss Law on Investment Funds, while investment companies are subject to the Swiss Company Law, which is part of the Swiss Code of Obligations. If investment companies are listed on the Swiss Stock Exchange, they will also be subject to the listing rules of the stock exchange.

Spain recently approved rules to reduce the risks derived from the insolvency of any of the parties involved in financial operations in relation to derivative instruments. In the event of the accelerated maturity of the balances resulting from these operations, the netting of the balances is now allowed.

On December 11 1997, the ordinary shareholders' meeting of Borsa Italiana SpA, the company to which the organization and management of the Italian regulated markets of financial instruments has been attributed, adopted the regulation aimed at governing the markets, so implementing Article 47 of Legislative Decree No. 415 of July 23 1996.

On April 1 1998, the Third Financial Market Enhancement Act (Drittes Finanzmarktförderungsgesetz) entered into force amending various German statutes and covering stock exchange and securities trading law, investment fund law as well as the laws on venture capital companies, mortgage banks and public banks. The most important changes relate to the Stock Exchange Act (Börsengesetz), the Securities Trading Act (Wertpapierhandelsgesetz) and the Investment Companies Act (Kapitalanlagegesellschaftengesetz). In the area of stock exchange and securities trading law, the amendments include the following:

The Ministry of Finance issued a Decision on listing particulars on March 19 1998. The Decision concerns listing particulars to be published when an application for listing securities has been filed with the stock exchange or when securities subject to listing application are offered to the public. Shares, bonds, convertibles, warrants and depository receipts entitling to shares are subject to listing particulars requirements governed by the Decision.

On September 11 1997, the Supreme Court of Justice (Oberster Gerichtshof) ruled on basic issues of liability extending to statements or omissions made in issuing prospectuses under general rules of Austrian contract and tort law (6 Ob 2100/96h). Because the transaction in question had taken place in 1978, the Capital Markets Act of 1991 (Kapitalmarktgesetz) and the Stock Exchange Act of 1989 (Börsegesetz), which provide for specific rules regarding liability for material misrepresentations or omissions in prospectuses, were not applicable. The 1989 and 1991 acts do not provide a complete set of liability rules and are supplemented by the liability rules of the Austrian Civil Code. The decision will also have a significant impact on future prospectus liability cases falling outside the scope of the acts, ie where prospectuses are not issued in the course of a public offer.

Regardless of where it takes place, a merger or acquisition that affects a Mexican market may be subject to a notice requirement before it has legal or material effect in Mexico. The Federal Competition Commission (CFC) regulates mergers and acquisitions as concentrations under the 1993 Federal Economic Competition Law and its recently adopted regulations.

In June 1998, a completely new version of the Act on Company Law Act No. 144/1997 (1997 CXLIV tv a gazdasági társaságokról) will take effect, replacing the old Act No.6/1988. The changes are partly formal, but also of a substantive nature. The new law contains a longer general part, while the special parts are leaner because the repetitive sections on individual company forms have been moved forward into the general part.