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US firms Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, Cravath, Swaine & Moore, and Baker & Botts advised on international energy company Conoco's initial public offering, valued at about $4.2 billion. The offering consisted of Class A common stock of Conoco. 191,456,427 shares were offered at $23 a share. 172,456,427 of the shares were offered initially in the US and Canada. The Houston office of Baker & Botts and the New York office of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom advised Conoco. The Baker & Botts team was led by corporate partners Walter Smith, Michael Watson, David Kirkland Jr, and partners James Raborn (employee benefits) and William Griffith (tax).

US firm Shaw Pittman Potts & Trowbridge has opened a London office. The office plans to take advantage of a gap it has identified in the London market for specialist advice in the negotiation and structuring of technology transactions and outsourcing. The firm, which already has 100 attorneys in the US practising technology, decided to expand its practice into Europe to meet the needs of its existing UK and US clients and to attract new clients. Paul Mickey, managing partner of Shaw Pittman, explains: "London is the centre for financial transactions in Europe. The types of institutions with technology needs are clustered here."

By Barbara Galli

The new Channel Islands Stock Exchange (CISX) has started operations. The exchange already has 23 members — most are Guernsey or Jersey-based company subsidiaries, including Kleinwort Benson (Guernsey), Deutche Morgan Grenfell (CI) and Midland Bank Fund Managers (Guernsey). The CISX admitted its first listing on October 27. Tamara Menteshvili, chief executive for the CISX, says: "There is strong interest in the exchange not only locally but internationally, from places like Hong Kong, Australia, New York and a variety of European jurisdictions." The exchange has taken 18 months to create, in a joint effort by both islands' financial services commissions.

Securitization of assets other than mortgages is now possible in Spain. Iñigo Gómez-Jordana and Ana Gómez of Clifford Chance, Madrid review the new regulations

New Personal Property Securities legislation will soon be introduced to parliament. It has been described as New Zealand's most significant commercial law reform since the 1993 Companies legislation, and the change is long overdue; New Zealand's existing securities law is a confusing mixture of common law and various statutory rules. It is likely that the new legislation will be based largely on North American precedents and that it will replace not only the various existing statutes, but also the equitable and common law rules regulating the priorities of competing securities. The overriding intention is that all forms of security should be regulated in the same manner, and that the same rules should apply whether the debtor is an individual or a company. Further details regarding this important change will be reported on in a later edition.

Under what circumstances may a US plaintiff obtain jurisdiction over a foreign corporation merely because the foreign corporation has a subsidiary incorporated and doing business in the US? This question was recently before the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Jazini v Nissan Motor Company (2nd Cir. 1998).

The government has announced the merger of the Stock Exchange of Singapore (SES) and the Singapore International Monetary Exchange (Simex).

On October 6 1998 the People's Bank of China ordered the closure of a non-bank financial institution, Guangdong International Trust and Investment Co (GITIC). Although this has worried foreign financial institutions and the media, it must be seen as a significant step towards a market economy and the implementation of the rule of law.

Siebe and BTR are merging to create the world's largest maker of factory controls and automation equipment. UK engineering company Siebe will effectively acquire rival industrial equipment maker BTR to form a new group, valued at £9.4 billion ($14.7 billion). Linklaters & Alliance corporate partner Steven Turnbull is advising Siebe on the acquisition, with a team including partner Carlton Evans and assistants Angus Rollo, Helen Connolly and David Taylor. Morgan, Lewis & Bockius partner Izzet Sinan, based in Brussels, is advising Siebe on competition law aspects of the transaction. In the US, Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson, New York, is advising on US securities law issues as well as regulatory law. Partners Sanford Krieger and Eric Queen lead the team.