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Facing addressive competition on three fronts, French firms need to abandon their approach to stay in the front rank. Barbara Galli reports from Paris

In connection with the financial and political crises that swept Russia in August and September, the Russian government has adopted certain extraordinary measures, including the restructuring of the state's obligations under widely-held debt securities, and a moratorium on repayment of certain other hard currency debts. Creditor losses as a result of these measures are potentially enormous; by some estimates, in the hundreds of billions of dollars. Among other effects, the new measures have precipitated the effective collapse of the Russian banking system. From a legal perspective, the imposition of the measures has raised a host of issues, including the effective remedies available to bond creditors and the status of private debtor obligations in view of the moratorium.

The National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) announced on September 8 1998 that the auction of the so-called mirror companies is set for December 2 1998 on the Rio de Janeiro Stock Exchange. The mirror companies will be able to exploit fixed telephony in three regions: region one (Tele Norte Leste mirror), region two (Tele Centro Sul mirror) and region three (Telesp mirror), as well as in competition with Embratel (domestic and international long-distance services, telegraphy, maritime communications and data transmission). Accordingly, there will be four mirror companies, all starting from non-existing structures, which will require considerable investment in infrastructure.

ING Group has purchased a leading stake in German bank BHF-Bank. The deal, which is worth DM 2.5 billion ($1.4 billion), involved a number of separate transactions through which ING increased its holding of BHF-Bank shares from 4.5% to 39%. ING is now the largest single shareholder of BHF-Bank. The transaction was completed on September 14. Final completion of the acquisition is dependent on gaining the consent of the regulatory authorities. The shares were sold by Allianz, DG Bank and Münchener Rück.

• Clifford Chance has recruited three new partners. Jason Glover will be based in London, while Pablo Bieger and José Antonio Cainzos join the Madrid office. Glover is a private equity specialist and he was formerly with Asian Infrastructure Fund Advisers. Bieger, a corporate finance specialist, joins from Garrigues & Andersen. He had left Clifford Chance for Arthur Andersen in 1996. Cainzos was head of the litigation department of Baker & McKenzie and he will hold the same position at Clifford Chance.

Though the word privatization is still not in the official lexicon, China’s latest moves to retreat from state-owned enterprise and invite private investment offer privatization opportunities to brave foreign investors. By Jingzhou Tao of Coudert Brothers, Beijing

The Pünder group, a cooperation of European law firms, will be dissolved on December 31 1998. The remaining firms in the group had hoped to merge but they could not agree on the pace of integration. The group was hit earlier this year by the loss of Switzerland's Stoffel & Partner and Coppens Van Ommeslaghe & Faurès of Belgium, which also cited disagreements over integration between the firms. The remaining group comprises German firm Pünder Volhard Weber & Axster, Austrian firm Cerha Hempel & Spiegelfeld and French firm De Pardieu Brocas Maffei & Associés. At the end of the year these firms will continue to work together on a case-by-case basis but will no longer have a formal alliance. Peter Nägele, partner at Pünder Volhard, says: "All the firms agreed that alliances are no longer useful but our firm wanted to move ahead more quickly. We decided that it is better to dissolve the group and be free to pursue other options."

Two of Norway's big four law firms have scooped this year's largest restructuring of the country's banking sector. There is nothing unusual in that, except that there are not two, but three merging entities – Christiania Bank, the country's second largest lender, rival Fokus Bank and state-controlled Postbanken. The merger will create Norway's biggest financial services group, valued at NKr28 billion (US$3.6 billion). Wikborg Rein & Co is advising Christiania Bank with M&A partner Arne Didrik Kjornaes leading the team. Bugge Arentz-Hansen & Rasmussen (BAHR) accepted the delicate task of representing both Fokus and Postbanken.

In December 1997, the EU acknowledged Estonia’s efforts to build a thriving economy in just six years of independence: the country is now the first former Soviet state negotiating EU membership. Since 1992, enthusiastic governments have acted fast to dismantle the old structures, privatize state-owned companies and set up a monetary reform based on a currency board.

In the last of three articles considering possible changes to bond documentation to ease debt problems, Lee C Buchheit of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton, New York, considers collective representation clauses