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Shares of China Telecom raised HK$30.3 billion in a dual listing on the Hong Kong and New York stock exchanges. The deal is China's largest listing to date. Hong Kong-based investors bought almost 50% of China Telecom shares. The company offers mobile services in the Guangdong and Zhejiang provinces. US firm Sullivan & Cromwell advised on US law to the issuer. General corporate partners Chung Wei and Robert Delamater led the firm's team.

Credit Lyonnais is selling its majority shareholding in Woodchester Investments to GE Capital for a cash consideration of £591 million (US$958 million) to GE Capital. UK firm Allen & Overy and Irish firm William Fry is advising Woodchester and UK firm Clifford Chance is representing GE Capital.

The Italian government has sold 44.7% of its stake in Telecom Italia. The US$13 billion deal included a private offering of US$3.1 billion to stable shareholders and an offering of $US10 million in the international and Italian markets, including an SEC registered public offering in the US. Davis, Polk & Wardwell advised Telecom Italia. Partner Patrick Kenadjian led the team from the Frankfurt office. Of counsel Jeffrey Oakes advised on securities and capital markets matters from London.

Dutch firm Trenité van Doorne is the first foreign law firm to open in Cuba. It officially opened the Havana office on November 12, with two Dutch lawyers, Jan Willem Bitter and Sebastiaan Berger, and one Cuban, Alejandro Cruz Román. Bitter explains the firm has had links in Cuba since the early 1990s, with lawyers frequently handling business there. Clients of the firm's Curaçao office began to be active in Cuba in the late 1980s. For the firm, the office is just a natural extension of these operations.

Because of the economic shakedown taking place in Thailand, 58 finance companies have been forced to shut down for an undisclosed period of time. Other finance companies and banks have been left in dire financial straits. The Thai government as a consequence has passed two Royal Proclamations to help tackle the financial crisis:

Commission view on changeover to the euro; Commission acts on harmful tax competition; Consultation on the freedom to provide insurance services

Amendments to the Securities Act 1978 which came into force on October 1 will almost certainly increase costs for overseas issuers of securities to the New Zealand public. The Securities Commission recently declared that overseas issuers will need to meet the new requirements.

The House of Lords decided on October 30 in the landmark case of Morris v Agrichemicals (also called BCCI No. 8), that it is legally possible for a bank to take an equitable charge over money deposited with it. This ruling ends more than a decade of controversy caused by the decision in Re Charge Card Services Limited [1986] when Millett J stated that a charge-back was "conceptually impossible".

The Central Bank of the Russian Federation (CBR) recently adopted new currency regulations affecting capital contributions and long-term loans in hard currency, as summarized below. The new provisions appear intended to clarify and simplify Russian currency legislation, but in some cases they may have the contrary effect of delaying or complicating cross-border investment and financial transactions. In addition, they strengthen the involvement of the CBR in even the most routine transactions, increasing the bureaucratic burdens on foreign investors and lenders.

A new code for the Portuguese Securities Market is expected to come into force before the end of 1998. The new code, which is now being prepared and whose main features have already been submitted and approved by the Ministry of Finance, is expected to be more approachable and concise than the one in force at present, which has been broadly criticized for being over-regulatory and for duplicating provisions already included in other laws.