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The Danish government is to submit the Amsterdam Treaty to a public referendum. Under the Danish constitution, a public referendum is required in all cases where 'sovereignty' (as the term is used in the constitution) is or could be transferred from the Danish state to another body. At the opening of the Danish parliamentary session in the first week of October, the referendum was scheduled for May 28 1998. The latest polls indicate that most voters are in favour of the Treaty. If the public votes for the Treaty, it will subsequently be ratified by the Danish parliament.

US firms Shearman & Sterling and Sullivan Cromwell are advising on the flotation of a UK telecommunications company Energis, a subsidiary of UK electricity distributor National Grid. The company is expected to come to the market in December with a market capitalization of £1 billion (US$1.62 billion). London firms Slaughter and May and Cameron McKenna are advising on UK law.

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