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Since 1984, the Statute on the Acquisition of Real Estate by Foreigners in Switzerland, commonly known as the Lex Friedrich, limits the acquisition of real estate by persons domiciled in a foreign country and by foreigners living in Switzerland. The purpose of the statute, set forth in Article 1, is "to prevent foreign control of domestic land". Foreigners were only allowed to acquire land in Switzerland under the conditions set out in the Lex Friedrich.

Recent changes in the rules of capital tax on shares traded on the Stockholm Stock Exchange created considerable turmoil. In particular, they affected foreign shareholders because companies have changed the listing of their shares to avoid tax increases.

Recently approved measures allow the separation of principal and coupons of certain issues of Spanish government debt, as well as their subsequent reunification. These measures provide greater liquidity for the government debt market, as well as increasing the supply of this type of securities, allowing each investor to better tailor his or her investment portfolio to his or her needs in terms of principal, maturity and yield. Both individuals and corporate bodies can own these separated securities.

The Singapore Mediation Centre was opened by the Singapore Academy of Law on August 16 1997 to provide a full range of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) services, in particular private, non-court based mediation, as an alternative to litigation. At the launch, the Chief Justice said that "for businesses, litigation undermines their competitiveness by eating up management time and damaging business goodwill and reputation". Echoing the government's strong commitment to mediation, the Attorney-General's Chambers have recommended that future government contracts should carry a clause on the referral of disputes for mediation when appropriate.

No sign of money-laundering activity was found in Cyprus's banking system during the recent investigation by a team of international banking specialists from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

Since November 1993, Brazilian financial institutions have been allowed to acquire non-financial asset-backed securities (non-financial ABSs) issued by Brazilian Special Purposes Companies (SPCs). These domestic non-financial securitizations have been successfully done under the terms of the National Monetary Council's Resolution 2,026 of 1993. The non-financial assets have been transferred by Brazilian originators to the SPC and used to guarantee ABSs issued by the SPC. Even in cases where the Brazilian originators were subject to bankruptcy proceedings, the credit rights of the ABS holders were not affected.

UK firm Linklaters & Paines overtakes US rival Davis Polk & Wardwell to head this year’s ranking of the leading advisers on international equity issues. But other firms are catching up. Richard Forster and Robert Dwyer report

UK firms Clifford Chance and Freshfields have both added to their US law capabilities, each hiring a senior US-qualified lawyer in September. US lawyer Peter Cleary has joined Freshfields from Chadbourne & Parke. A project finance specialist with over 15 years of experience in Asia, he joined the UK firm's Hong Kong office on September 1.

The big six have already made significant inroads into the French and Spanish legal markets, but so far the Portuguese have managed to keep them at bay, with some very stiff regulation. Nick Ferguson reports

The merger between big six professional advisory and accounting firms Coopers & Lybrand and Price Waterhouse will bring together over 1000 lawyers worldwide, according to figures exclusively compiled by International Financial Law Review. The figures, gathered for the IFLRev 1000 Directory (to be published shortly), give an insight into the extent of the ambitions of the big six firms in the legal field. Alfred Fink, a lawyer in the Paris offices of Coopers & Lybrand, says: "This is the perfect mix. They are in locations where we aren't, such as Russia. Also, Price Waterhouse is very strong in Latin America, but we are stronger in Europe than they are."