Search results for

The demand for infrastructure improvement in South Africa exceeds the scope of the public sector. The opportunities for private sector finance are considerable. By Jabulani Mtshali of Deneys Reitz, Johannesburg

Emmanuel Guillaume, group executive vice president and general counsel at France Telecom, talks to Barbara Galli

As the securities market increasingly adopts the Internet, the SEC has issued guidelines to help foreign securities companies avoid US registration. By Winthrop Brown of Shaw Pittman Potts & Trowbridge, Washington DC

The 1992 Bankruptcy Law allowed Russian companies to continue to operate in an insolvent state. New legislation empowers the creditors. By Britt Shaw of McDermott, Will & Emery, Moscow

• US firm Paul Hastings Janofsky & Walker is expanding its London office. Wayne McArdle, former chief counsel of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, has joined the firm as a partner. McArdle is a corporate finance specialist, with significant experience in project finance transactions in central and eastern Europe. Corporate partner and securities specialist Joel Simon is also relocating from New York to London, along with a corporate associate.

Can the resolution of future sovereign debt crises be eased by changes in the legal documents that evidence these obligations? In the first of a series of three articles, Lee C Buchheit of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton, New York considers the sharing clause

On April 15 1998, the Chilean Central Bank amended certain exchange rules on the issue of Eurobonds and American depositary receipts (ADRs) to cut restrictions and increase flexibility.

The draft Directive on settlement finality, incorporating amendments proposed by the European parliament, was approved by the Council of Ministers at the end of April 1998. It provides for legislation to deal with the position of cross-border payments when a bank or securities firm cannot meet its obligations. It aims to cut the systemic risk in payment and securities settlement systems and to minimize the disruption to a system caused by insolvency proceedings against a participant in the system.

A judgment of a foreign court will not be recognized and enforced in Switzerland if it was made in disregard of a valid arbitration clause in place between the parties, as long as the defendant duly objects to the foreign court assuming jurisdiction, the Swiss Federal Tribunal recently ruled (Ruling 124 III 83).

The parliamentary committee reviewing the Swedish Companies Act published a report (SOU 1997:168) late last year on profit distributions. The report addresses the uncertainty as to whether profit distributions may be decided at extraordinary shareholders meetings and suggests that additional distributions may be decided after the annual general meeting. No advance distributions were proposed. The present veto of the board of directors was proposed to be abolished. Another proposal was to abolish the restriction on parent companies' right to distribute profits in excess of the free equity on the consolidated group balance sheet, leaving the parent company's own free equity freely distributable. However, the so-called prudence rule was kept, stating that a profit distribution may not be so high as to contravene generally accepted business practices in view of the company's or group's consolidation needs, liquidity or financial position. This rule was tightened by dropping the reference to business practice and making its application to any form of transfer of values to shareholders or others clear.