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Two firms are leaving the Pünder Group, the alliance of European law firms headed by German firm Pünder Volhard Weber & Axster, after disagreements about the group's future. The two firms are Coppens Van Ommeslaghe Faurès, in Belgium, and Swiss member Stoffel & Partner. Jean-Michel Détry, corporate finance partner at Coppens, says: "We were looking for increased financial integration within the group. In particular, we wanted all the EU work to be merged and shared out among the firms, but this was resisted by the German and Dutch firms." One firm has already left the group earlier this year: Netherlands member Buruma Maris left in order to merge with Benelux firm Loeff Claeys Verbeke, although the merger talks proved abortive. Détry says: "At this point it became obvious that the group needed financial integration. Essentially, there are discussions in various directions but the bottom line is that we will leave the Pünder group."

The demand for infrastructure improvement in South Africa exceeds the scope of the public sector. The opportunities for private sector finance are considerable. By Jabulani Mtshali of Deneys Reitz, Johannesburg

Arthur Andersen has abandoned plans to acquire Wilde Sapte, the city law firm it settled on after an 18-month search. Because of the defection of some of Wilde Sapte's most highly-regarded lawyers, Andersen felt the nature of the deal had substantially changed. Although they had originally voted in favour of the transaction, Wilde Sapte asset finance specialists David Smith and Mario Jacovides resigned shortly afterwards to join UK rival Allen & Overy. Also moving to Allen & Overy was top leasing partner Graham Smith. Several other Wilde Sapte stars were reported to be in talks with rival firms, including Philip Rocher, a litigator, and shipping finance head Robert Dibble.

The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) has published its Emu protocol, an innovative answer to a number of issues raised by European Economic Monetary Union. The document, published in May, is intended to assist the modification of over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives contracts based on ISDA's master agreement. With tens of thousands of these contracts outstanding all over the world, dealing logistically with Emu is a great challenge. Parties to the contracts are facing a number of problems, such as continuation of their contracts or the disappearance of current price sources.

The Swiss-American investment bank Credit Suisse First Boston is buying São Paulo bank Banco Garantia. New York firms Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton and Shearman & Sterling are advising on the US$675 million deal. Cleary Gottlieb is representing CSFB with a team headed by M&A and securities partners Peter Darrow and James Munsell.

New benchmarks in corporate loan securitization (collateralized loan obligations, or CLO) technology were set when the Structured Finance Group at the London branch of The Sumitomo Bank completed their Aurora CLO on April 8 1998. The £1.395 billion (US$ 2.3 billion) issue of floating rate notes by Aurora Funding was supported by a structure which:

Clifford Chance has scored a major coup by poaching US lawyer Bruce Bean from the Moscow office of Coudert Brothers where he was managing partner. A New York and California qualified corporate lawyer, Bean joins Clifford Chance as a partner in the firm's Moscow office, which is staffed by 57 lawyers, including five partners. With experience of advising multinationals on inward investment, advising investment banks on securities issues by Russian corporates and international oil and gas companies on their activities in the country, he will be in charge of developing the office's corporate and US multinational practices.

After a string of national mergers at the beginning of the 1990s, German firms are shifting their focus as domestic clients look to international experience. Nick Ferguson reports from Frankfurt

The problems in the Indonesian economy have drawn attention to the question of how to enforce bills of exchange and commercial paper. This article provides a guide. By PDD Dermawan of Dermawan & Co, Jakarta

New Swiss legislation has opened the way for more sharing of administrative assistance information, building from the success of cooperation in the criminal field. By Claude Rouiller of Ziegler & Poncet, Geneva, former Chief Justice of Switzerland