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Netting laws to be extended to payment systems

The European Commission has approved Bertelsmann's sale of its BMG Music Publishing business to Universal under the EC Merger Regulation.

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

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).

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.

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.

Fannie Mae, the leading US mortgage lender, last week announced a $3 billion bond issue. The bonds are five year benchmark notes, due November 14 2003.. It was Fannie Mae's first issue in the five-year market since April.

Meredith Brown, Giselle Hantz and Scott Budlong of Debevoise & Plimpton, New York and London analyze the conflict between US regulation and the UK’s City Code in the light of the SEC’s cross-border proposals

• New York's Brown & Wood has added two lawyers from Baltimore-based Piper & Marbury to form a new Korean practice. Jaemin Park and Jay Cohen both join the firm's Washington DC office as partners. • The Washington DC office of Chicago's Sidley & Austin has added White House associate counsel Karen Popp as a partner. Popp will work in the firm's corporate crime, internal investigations and commercial litigation practices. She has worked at the White House for the last two years, advising congressional and grand jury investigations.

UK firm Herbert Smith has opened an office in Bangkok. The office will practise both UK and local law and will enable the firm to consolidate its position in Asia. Heading the office is Henry Usckinski, formerly head of international arbitration at Coudert Brothers in Hong Kong. He will be assisted by Jonathan Pyne, a senior associate in corporate finance and former co-head of investment banking at Thai securities firm Krungthai Thanakit. The firm wants to include Thai expertise in its office and will recruit six to eight lawyers including Thai nationals.