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The Puerto Rico Telephone Authority agreed to sell the majority of its shares in the Puerto Rico Telephone Company to a group headed by a subsidiary of GTE Corporation. At closing, PRTA will receive US$1.875 billion — US$375 million as consideration for the shares and US$1.5 billion as dividend. The dividend will be paid through a loan, to be arranged GTE, from a syndicate of banks to PRTC.

Coca Cola Beverages (CCB), one of the ten anchor bottlers within the Coca-Cola system and the largest bottler of carbonated soft drinks in Central and Europe has been floated on the London Stock Exchange. The flotation valued the company at over £1.7 billion (US$2.8 billion). Warburg Dillon Reed acted as sponsor and bookrunner. CCB was created by the demerger of the bottling business of Coca-Cola Amatil in 12 countries in central and eastern Europe and the acquisitionof The Coca-Cola Company's bottling operations in northern and central Italy.

The latest WTO negotiations have brought financial services under international discipline for the first time, adding an essential missing piece to GATS. By Peter Morrison* of Clifford Chance, London

The Supreme Court of Mexico is reviewing a controversy, Contradiccion de tesis 2/98 y 11/98, that challenges the enforceability of arrangements under which Mexican banks have imposed charges for interest on unpaid interest. The resolution of this matter will affect the many legal disputes which arose in 1995 after the Mexican peso devaluation and the ensuing spike in interest rates (up to 100%) and could have serious financial consequences for an already troubled banking sector.

The Cyprus Stock Exchange (CSE) has embarked on its most ambitious project yet, the creation of an electronic exchange. With a view to improving its connectivity, speeding up securities transactions and cutting costs, the CSE has signed a contract with an Australian computer firm to develop and install the required equipment and software. Full computerization of trading as well as back office procedures, ie clearing and settlement, is scheduled to be operational by mid-1999. The customization and testing of the electronic dealing system is under way. The same system architecture is already used by the Geneva, Moscow and Oslo stock exchanges. Even though the exchange is to go on-line, the trading floor will continue to exist for some time. Remote-terminal-based trading will follow at a later stage. The provision of central clearing facilities for stock exchange transactions under the electronic system was put out to tender and won by a major Cypriot banking institution.

A pool of French, English and American firms worked for the success of the IPO of GEC Alsthom, the joint venture between GEC and Alcatel Alsthom, now renamed Alstom. The offering, totalling US$3.7 billion, comprised shares, depositary receipts and ADRs, with a primary listing in Paris and secondary listings in London and NewYork. Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse First Boston acted as joint global coordinators.

UK firms have traditionally led the development of top tier international legal practices. Linklaters’ European merger may speed up the race for global dominance. Nick Ferguson reports

• Altman Weil, the US legal management consulting firm, has poached Rees Morrison from Arthur Andersen's Legal Business Consulting Group. Morrison, who has been a consultant for ten years, joins as a principal and will be in charge of a number of critical areas for government and corporate law departments, such as outside counsel cost control, upgrading technology and organization and reengineering process. • Debevoise & Plimpton has promoted four new partners in its New York office, as of July 1. David Bernstein is a litigator and a member of the firm's intellectual property practice group. Paul Loughran works in the corporate department and the securities practice group. David Mason is a member of the tax department and the investment management group, and a specialist in executive compensation. Christopher Tahbaz is a litigator focusing on complex commercial litigation and consumer class action.

UK firm Watson Farley & Williams is to acquire the Singapore office of Sinclair Roche & Temperley for what has been described as "a substantial sum of money". The agreement is effective from September 1 1998. The move comes just a few months after Sinclair Roche & Temperley agreed an alliance with Singapore firm Colin Ng & Partners, intended to operate alongside its Singapore office.

With the increased use of subordinated debt in projects, lawyers are faced with novel negotiating situations. This article considers the problem areas. By Peter Avery of Clifford Chance, Tokyo