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Ford Credit's asset-backed programme issuer Globaldrive, has completed its debut issue, a Dm1 billion (US$566 million) securitization of US originated dealer floorplan loans. Globaldrive is the first corporate securitization vehicle in Europe which will allow for the issue of separately rated notes backed by discrete asset pools from different countries.

Law firms from the UK, US and Hong Kong have advised on the first ever Chinese GDRs listed on the London Stock Exchange. Zhejiang Southeast Electric Power Company's dual listing on the London and Shanghai exchanges will also be China's largest B-share offering. The company's total market capitalization will be more than US$200 million.

Although still often thought of as accounting firms, the big six are increasingly eager to call themselves professional service providers and offer a full range of services. Legal services are the latest part of that trend. Phillippa Cannon reports

Hanover Re, the German reinsurance company, has bought the international reinsurance operations of Skandia, the Swedish insurance and financial services group. The US$490 million deal will be effective from January 1 1998.

In the first of a series of articles drawn from the 1998 edition of the International Financial Law Review 1000 Directory, Paul Lee examines the IFLRev50, the world largest law firms, and their international strategies

Poland's Bank Handlowy has completed its US$600 million privatization. US firm White & Case advised the bank and Clifford Chance represented Schroders, the financial advisers. JP Morgan, Swedbank and the Zurich Group agreed to acquire 24% of the bank in the core investor sale, which was the final element in the three-stage offering. Bank Handlowy is now the largest company quoted on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.

Price Waterhouse and Coopers & Lybrand's proposed merger will create an accountancy firm with worldwide revenues of US$13 billion, 135,000 employees and 8,500 partners. The move has led to talk of further mergers among the big six.

New provisions in Luxembourg on the merger of the capacities of debtor and creditor in one person (confusion) mean issuers are no longer forced to cancel their own debt after purchase. By Henri Wagner of Zeyen Beghin Feider/Loeff Claeys Verbeke, Luxembourg

A survey of pay rewards for US in-house lawyers reveals an end to the rise and rise of corporate legal salaries. The study was conducted by the management consulting firm Altman Weil Pensa and jointly published with the American Corporate Counsel Association. According to the survey, chief legal officers, the most senior corporate legal executives, suffered a drop of almost 5% in their compensation (salary plus bonus), and recent law school graduates, traditionally the lowest-paid corporates, saw a 10% fall. On average chief legal officers were paid US$286,621 and new graduates US$46,981.

White & Case's London office has lost its senior partner to Latham & Watkins's London office. Latham & Watkins has lured Bernard Nelson, a corporate finance specialist, from its US rival. Latham & Watkins moved to London in 1990 and has since concentrated on project finance work. But the development of a capital markets capacity is a natural one. "Latham & Watkins is one of the premier capital markets firms worldwide, but traditionally it has not been so strong in Europe," says Nelson. "Now I hope we will become one of the premier departments in Europe."