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The Act was approved in parliament on May 1997 (Act no. 385/1997), extending an existing scheme regarding the new building of small ships. It is not yet determined when it will come into force.

US firm Latham & Watkins has established an office in Singapore. US qualified lawyer Joe Bevash moves from Hong Kong to head the office, which will initially be staffed by five lawyers. The office, which opened on December 16, will specialize in project finance.

Gazprom and Shell have signed an alliance agreement to cooperate on the development of energy projects worldwide. The joint energy group will produce around 500,000 barrels a day of oil and gas condensates. As part of the alliance Shell will commit up to US$1 billion in a convertible bond to be issued by Gazprom.

The planned merger between Dutch firms Loeff Claeys Verbeke, of Amsterdam and Rotterdam, and the Hague's Buruma Maris, will not go ahead. Announced in July 1997, it would have taken effect from January 1 1998 (see International Financial Law Review, August 1997, page 3). According to figures compiled for the International Financial Law Review 1000 Directory, the merger would have created Holland's largest firm, and the 29th largest firm in the world. The move reflects events three years ago, when Buruma Maris rebuffed the possibility of merger with Loeff Claeys.

China may be ready to relax restrictions on foreign law firms in preparation for entry to the WTO. Under proposals supposedly included in a document presented to the WTO in Geneva, China's foreign firms may eventually be granted some of the freedom they enjoy in neighbouring Hong Kong, where most international firms base their China operations.

"Where there is no vision people perish" quotes Clifford Chance's Vision of the Future from the Book of Proverbs. While one of their banking partners might be forgiven for not reading the good book, he clearly applied biblical zeal to his handling of relations with a UK financial services client, informing its in-house head that they would be more suited to another, mid-sized firm and even being so kind as to name an alternative.

Joseph Polizzotto, Managing Director and Deputy General Counsel, Lehman Brothers, New York, talks to Richard Forster

The Commissioner responsible for the single market, Mario Monti, put forward a revised draft of the proposal for a 13th Company Law Directive on conduct during takeover bids. The new draft takes on most of the concerns of the European Parliament, the Economic and Social Committee and other interested parties. It entitles employees of target companies to be informed once a bid is made public and to receive a copy of the offer document.

Following requests from the fund managers' professional association, the Hong Kong SFC has proposed a detailed regulatory backdrop for fund management operations. By Sara Or of Johnson Stokes & Master, Hong Kong

James Hurlock, White & Case: "Similar arguments [in favour of mergers] would apply in other European countries. We are considering our options and other firms have approached us"