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The New Zealand Stock Exchange (NZSE) has launched a new managed fund (the TeNZ fund) which tracks the NZSE10 Index (the Index). The Index is a weighted index made up of selected securities of New Zealand's top 10 listed companies, by market capitalization, which has the principal purpose of providing a measure of price trends of those companies. The TeNZ fund is a passive fund which will own a diversified portfolio of securities in the same weightings as the Index with the aim of providing investment results that correspond to the performance of the Index. Investors will purchase units in the fund, and the units will be tradeable on the NZSE.

Differences between US and English law have always been more apparent than real. The Gustafson decision brings the two even closer in respect of issuer liability. By Simon Gleeson of Richards Butler, London

After four years of negotiation French electronics and defence group Matra has reached agreement with UK counterpart British Aerospace to form a £1 billion (US$1.5 billion) joint venture company Matra BAe Dynamics. The new company results from a merger of the missile operations of the two groups and will be the largest missile manufacturer in Europe.

• US firm Winston & Strawn has rehired former partner Robert Bostrom. Bostrom will leave his post as legal and regulatory general counsel at NatWest Bancorp to head the financial institutions practice in the New York office of the law firm.

The Hungarian Ministry of Justice is considering a draft law for foreign lawyers in Hungary. The main elements are likely to be a requirement that foreign firms register with the Hungarian Bar and not just the Ministry of Trade, and that foreign firms form associations with local firms. Stephen Forster, of McKenna Ormai, Budapest (an association of a Hungarian and a British firm), says: "The proposals seem quite reasonable, although they are at an early stage." Laszlo Kopits of Weil, Gotshal & Manges, Budapest, says: "All lawyers recognize that the operation of foreign firms must be regulated, rather than the free-for-all which now exists."

The EU Commission is pressing Austria to abolish anonymous banking. With the Austrian government stalling, the matter is likely to go to the European Court. By Friedrich Schwank of Law Offices Dr F Schwank, Vienna

The High Court recently held in Possfund Custodian Trustee v Diamond that it is arguable that those responsible for the issue of a company's prospectus owe a duty of care not only to initial subscribers but also to subsequent purchasers of thatcompany's shares in the market. Shares in Diamond Group Holdings (Diamond) were placed on the Unlisted Securities Market in April 1989. Most of the plaintiffs were subscribers but some had also made subsequent purchases of Diamond's shares on the USM. These later purchases took place in the 'after market', the period (in this case two-and-a-half months) after the placing during which the most recent published financial information on Diamond remained that found in the prospectus.

Concluding his consideration of repos, Claude Brown of Linklaters & Paines, London, discusses the various master agreements for repos, buy/sell backs and stock loans

The package of regulatory reforms set to come before the Legislative Council this autumn will innovate as well consolidate. John Holmes and James Walker of Clifford Chance, Hong Kong, look at its new provisions

General Motors, the US car company, has spun off its subsidiary Electronic Data Systems (EDS), the US software and consulting company, in a US$500 million transaction. EDS now has a listing on the New York and London stock exchanges.