Search results for

The Allen Committee’s Final Report strikes a blow for greater transparency and accountability in corporate governance in Canada. By Thomas Allen and Andrew Fleming of Ogilvy Renault, Toronto and London

Since 1984, the Statute on the Acquisition of Real Estate by Foreigners in Switzerland, commonly known as the Lex Friedrich, limits the acquisition of real estate by persons domiciled in a foreign country and by foreigners living in Switzerland. The purpose of the statute, set forth in Article 1, is "to prevent foreign control of domestic land". Foreigners were only allowed to acquire land in Switzerland under the conditions set out in the Lex Friedrich.

Recently approved measures allow the separation of principal and coupons of certain issues of Spanish government debt, as well as their subsequent reunification. These measures provide greater liquidity for the government debt market, as well as increasing the supply of this type of securities, allowing each investor to better tailor his or her investment portfolio to his or her needs in terms of principal, maturity and yield. Both individuals and corporate bodies can own these separated securities.

No sign of money-laundering activity was found in Cyprus's banking system during the recent investigation by a team of international banking specialists from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

Two new Acts of Parliament have introduced far-reaching reforms to the rules governing the privatization of state-owned companies in Poland. The first Act, of August 8 1996, abolished the Ministry of Privatizations, and, as of October 1 1996, transferred its functions to the Treasury Ministry. The second Act, of August 30 1996, amended the terms and conditions of the sale and privatization of state-owned companies. It came into force on April 8 1997.

Since November 1993, Brazilian financial institutions have been allowed to acquire non-financial asset-backed securities (non-financial ABSs) issued by Brazilian Special Purposes Companies (SPCs). These domestic non-financial securitizations have been successfully done under the terms of the National Monetary Council's Resolution 2,026 of 1993. The non-financial assets have been transferred by Brazilian originators to the SPC and used to guarantee ABSs issued by the SPC. Even in cases where the Brazilian originators were subject to bankruptcy proceedings, the credit rights of the ABS holders were not affected.

UK firm Linklaters & Paines is set to open its first South American office with a representative office in São Paulo. The firm has done a large amount of debt work out of Brazil but the intention is to target the potential for private sector equity work. "During the next five years we are going to see a lot of equity stuff coming out of South America so putting a team down in Brazil will put us in a very good position," says Nick Eastwell, a partner with Linklaters in London who specializes in emerging market securities.

The merger between big six professional advisory and accounting firms Coopers & Lybrand and Price Waterhouse will bring together over 1000 lawyers worldwide, according to figures exclusively compiled by International Financial Law Review. The figures, gathered for the IFLRev 1000 Directory (to be published shortly), give an insight into the extent of the ambitions of the big six firms in the legal field. Alfred Fink, a lawyer in the Paris offices of Coopers & Lybrand, says: "This is the perfect mix. They are in locations where we aren't, such as Russia. Also, Price Waterhouse is very strong in Latin America, but we are stronger in Europe than they are."

• New York's Chadbourne & Parke LLP has made seven lawyers partners. They are: in Singapore, Bruce Rader (corporate and project finance); in Moscow, Mikhail Rozenberg (Russian practice); in Washington DC, Thomas Hechl (Russian practice and project finance); and in New York, Douglas Fried (project finance), Claude Serfilippi (corporate finance), Drew Wintringham (intellectual property) and Nancy Zajac (leasing).

McDonald & Hayden, Toronto