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• Nine partners have left London's Frere Cholmeley Bischoff following last month's merger with UK firm Eversheds. They include three Paris-based partners who will move to other firms in the city: Ann Creelman Abboud is to join US firm Watson Farley & Williams's Paris office as partner in charge of its corporate practice and will take two avocats with her; commercial and litigation specialist Jean-Philippe Berthet will move to US firm Proskauer Rose Goetz & Mendelsohn and Richard Mees, a corporate and litigation specialist, will move to French firm Salans Hertzfeld & Heilbronn. Other moves include telecoms partner Neil Blundell going to UK firm Bird & Bird and Kirstene Baillie, a financial services specialist, moving to UK firm Field Fisher Waterhouse. Eleven other partners and 44 assistants have also left to set up a new firm, to be called Forsters (see Insides). • David Shaw, a senior corporate partner with UK firm Norton Rose, is to retire from the firm to join HSBC Holdings as adviser to the board. Shaw will chair the Investment Banking Audit Committee within the HSBC Group Executive Committee, advising on strategies and structural issues. He will take up his appointment on June 1.

Daimler-Benz and Chrysler have announced on May 7 the largest industrial merger ever. The deal values Chrysler at US$39 billion. The new group, known as Daimler-Chrysler, is estimated to be worth US$92 billion and will be the world's fifth-largest vehicle maker.

The partial privatization of Airports Company South Africa (ACSA), a company operating nine airports, is completed. The Government of South Africa sold 20% of the issued share capital of ACSA to a consortium led by the Italian Aeroporti di Roma. The consortium also received an option to buy an additional 10%of the issued share capital. The Government intends to sell 10% of the capital to disadvantaged South Africans and 9% to ACSA employees and management. US firm White & Case advised the South African Ministry of Transport. Johannesburg-based partner Darryl Deaktor led the team. Also involved were partners Ron Goodman and John Janks, in Johannesburg, and David Eisenberg in London.

UK city firm Frere Cholmeley Bischoff agreed to merge with national firm Eversheds' London office on April 30. The new office will have 70 partners and 200 other fee earners. The merger, effectively a takeover, will take effect from August 1 when the firms completely integrate in London operations. However 11 Frere Cholmeley partners, including the firm's entire property and private client practices, are unhappy with the arrangement. They are leaving, with their associates, to form Forsters, a new law firm with a total of 55 lawyers. David Willis will become the senior partner.

On March 1 1998, the amendments to the 1989 EU Merger Regulation entered into force. For the details of the new regime see International Financial Law Review, June 1997, page 53.

Arbitration has become an increasingly important method of dispute resolution. Before the resumption of sovereignty by China on July 1 1997, Hong Kong and China were separate parties to the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards 1958. Chinese artibral awards were convention awards, enforceable in Hong Kong under section 42(1) of the Arbitration Ordinance. However, since July 1 1997, when Hong Kong and China ceased to be separate parties to the New York Convention, section 42(1) has no longer applied to Chinese awards. Questions then arose as to how Chinese arbitral awards can be enforced in Hong Kong.

The Business Bankruptcy Reform Act, S.1914, was introduced into the US Senate on April 2 1998. S.1914 proposes to amend the Bankruptcy Code to make it clear that assets transferred in a securitization are not property of the estate in a bankruptcy filed by the transferor. If passed, this amendment may well remove the legal uncertainties as to whether the bankruptcy trustee may reach financial assets previously transferred to a special purpose entity that has issued debt or equity backed by those assets. Other sections of S.1914 would amend the Bankruptcy Code to broaden the category of transactions that qualify as swaps or repurchase agreements and for the first time permit cross-netting pursuant to master agreements of amounts due and owing under forwards, swaps, repurchase agreements, commodities and securities contracts.

Holders of a joint bank account in the UAE typically instruct the bank to allow 'either or survivor' to operate the account. The purpose of this mandate is to allow the surviving account-holders to continue to operate the account following the death of one of the other account-holders.

On March 11, South Africa further liberalized exchange controls. Most of the changes were effective on announcement.

The New Zealand government recently announced a package of 'in principle' reforms to the electricity industry, which have as their primary objective obtaining 'a better deal for electricity consumers'.