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The proposed cut of the 1.5% stamp duty payable on credits granted by Finnish credit institutions will effect major changes on credit granting. Under the government bill, stamp duty will no longer be levied on loan agreements and mortgages. The amendment is proposed to be retroactive, enabling creditors to proceed an action ex post facto for the stamp duty paid in connection with the granting of the loan if the loan agreement has been signed on or after April 29 1998.

The merger of two New York energy companies, Con Edison and Orange and Rockland Utilities, announced May 11 1998, is expected to increase efficiency and result in net savings of up to US$50 million a year. Cravath Swaine and Moore, New York, is advising Con Edison in the US$790 million acquisition of O&R. The team of lawyers from Cravath Swaine is headed by M&A partner George Belicic.

Daimler-Benz and Chrysler have announced on May 7 the largest industrial merger ever. The deal values Chrysler at US$39 billion. The new group, known as Daimler-Chrysler, is estimated to be worth US$92 billion and will be the world's fifth-largest vehicle maker.

Sullivan & Cromwell, New York is advising US local telephone company SBC Communications on its US$57 billion merger with Chicago telephone group Ameritech. The team of lawyers was headed by Benjamin Stapleton (M&A) and Andrew Mason (tax). Mayer Brown & Platt, Chicago, and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, New York, are advising Ameritech. The team of lawyers from Mayer Brown includes Robert Helman, Herbert Kruger, Wayne Luepker, Richard Williamson and Theodore Livingston. The team of lawyers from Skadden Arps is headed by Charles Mulaney. (M&A), Lewis Freeman (tax) and Antoinette Bush (communications and regulation).

Eight listed South African companies are to merge to create the world's largest gold mining company, with an expected market capitalization in excess of £2.8 billion (US$ 4.6 billion). The merger should be effected with one of the companies, Anglogold, acquiring all the shares of each of the others under seven schemes of arrangement. Each scheme is subject to the approval of the South African High Court. In the unlikeley event of a scheme not being approved, Anglogold has prepared an alternative takeover offer for the concerned shareholders. The new company, also called Anglogold will be listed on the Johannesburg, London and Paris stock exchanges.

UK firm Norton Rose is ending its association in Hong Kong with local firm Johnson Stokes & Master, with effect from March 31 1999. From this date a clause in the 1976 association agreement will prevent Norton Rose from carrying on a legal practice in Hong Kong for three years. Roger Birkby, Norton Rose managing partner, says: "We have grown more international and we have to work for our clients wherever in the world they want us to. This proved difficult in Hong Kong, because the terms of the association did not allow us to work in areas such as project finance or asset finance." Norton Rose in Hong Kong provides primarily corporate finance, banking and marine litigation services. According to Birkby, several attempts to re-negotiate the terms of the association failed.

On May 13 1998 Debevoise & Plimpton appointed Ric Evans as its presiding partner. He takes over from Barry Bryan, who led the firm for five years and is stepping down as he approaches retirement. Evans is from the firm's litigation department; its strongest area. Within a week of Evans's appointment the firm has declared its intention to expand its UK capabilities. Partners in the firm have confirmed that the London office is looking to make its first UK corporate hire. It is a further sign that Debevoise is shaking off its once conservative image. In the last 10 years the firm wrangled with the opposing forces of modernization and tradition. Before 1989 it had only three offices worldwide: New York, which opened in 1931; Paris, in 1964 and Washington DC, in 1982.

Freshfields and Baker & McKenzie advised on more privatization deals than any other firms in 1997. In what was a record year both firms advised on 117 transactions; more than double that of third-placed firm Linklaters & Paines. Last year the total value of privatizations topped US$160 billion, according to league tables published in Privatisation International. Freshfields, which heads the table because of the higher value of its transactions, benefited from a bumper year in Asia, despite the slowdown towards the end of the year.

In Brussels, White & Case has lost a senior partner to a new Baker & McKenzie venture. Aristoteles Kaplanidis had been with Forrester Norall & Sutton for 12 years before its merger with White & Case (see IFLRev, January 1998, page 3). He is now to have executive responsibility for a new centre set up by Baker & McKenzie to provide clients with specialized EU advice. Kaplanidis stresses simply that the offer from Baker & McKenzie came at the right time for him. He says of his three months with White & Case: "There were a lot of changes going on at Forrester which, to be honest, made me think twice about leaving. There were good prospects and during my time there I worked on some very interesting things ... The merger was not the reason I moved."

The Italian securities regulator, CONSOB, has established new conduct of business rules for EU-based firms providing investment services in Italy through a branch. By Piero Salera of Pavia e Ansaldo, Rome