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New York firm Reid & Priest and San Francisco form Thelen Marrin Johnson Bridges confirmed market speculation by announcing, on April 6, they are to merge (see IFLRev, April 1998, page 3). It is the largest merger between east and west coast firms, combining over 350 lawyers. The new firm will be known as Thelen Reid & Priest when the merger is formalized on June 30. Richard Gary, Thelen Marrin's chairman, will become chairman of the new firm and Thomas Igoe, chairman of Reid & Priest, becomes vice-president.

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT), the largest provider of telecommunications services in Japan, has completed a US$1 billion SEC-registered global note offering, part of a trend by Japanese corporate issuers to borrow in the international market, rather than from Japanese banks or in the Japanese domestic bond market. The transaction is the first global note offering by NTT and the second recent SEC-registered global note offering by a Japanese issuer. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter acted as global coordinators on the deal advised by Sullivan & Cromwell.

Two New York firms, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and Shearman & Sterling are advising on the merger between US refuse controllers Waste Management and USA Waste. The merger is valued at $20 billion. Shearman & Sterling is counsel to USA Waste led by M&A partner John Marzulli in New York. Other New York partners are Mary Kate Wold (tax), John Cannon (competition), Margaret Murphy (environmental) and William Roll (litigation). Stephen Sunshine, a partner in Washington, dealt with antitrust matters.

The Czech parliament is expected to pass a package of reforms aimed at lessening investment funds' influence over domestic companies. While the measures have yet to be adopted, the threat of action has been enough to spark the beginning of strategic sell-offs of Czech companies by fund-holders. The proposed legislation will reduce the maximum stake in a company that an investment fund can hold from 20% to 11%. It will also force closed-end funds to open if they are trading at a discount of more than 40%, to be reduced to a 20% limit by the year 2000.

Privatization and deregulation are creating a more modern business environment in Austria and law firms are under increasing pressure to provide a similarly modern service. Nick Ferguson writes

An Insider Trading Bill is pending before the Cypriot parliament which, when enacted, will constitute a comprehensive legislative code dealing with all aspects of insider trading. The provisions of the Bill are based on the EU Directive on Insider Trading (Dir, 89/592, OJ 1989 No. L334/30) as well as insider trading legislation in the UK. Until the Bill becomes law, insider trading is controlled, albeit unsatisfactorily, by rules derived from general law. The protections against insider trading available under general law may be summarized as follows:

The Czech government is beginning the slow process of rebuilding investor confidence. Further banking and funds reforms are planned. By Madle Waldvogel of Beiten Burkhardt Mittl & Wegener, Prague

US firm Seward & Kissel has pulled out of Hungary. The Budapest practice of US rival Squire, Sanders & Dempsey will take over the office. Seward & Kissel's office, which opened in Budapest in 1992 and was the firm's only foreign outpost, was staffed by two senior lawyers: partner Blaise Pasztory and counsel Peter Komaromi. Squire Sanders' five lawyer team will move into Seward & Kissel's old office under the management of Pasztory and Komaromi.

On October 3 1997 a new Public Trading in Securities Act was published, which took effect on January 4 1998. The Act replaces the Securities Trading Act of 1991. The new Act provides, among other things, for a more detailed regulation of the field of derivatives transactions.

Citigroup, the new company formed by the Travelers/Citicorp merger, appears to breach the US’s regulatory barriers between financial services. But lawyers suggest there are possible structures for the company to offer the full range of services. Paul Lee reports