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Decree 2343 of 1996 establishes new terms and conditions for the trunking of telecommunications services. The aspects of these terms are:

Texas buy-out company Texas Pacific Group is offering an undisclosed amount, believed to be at least US$800 million, for Del Monte Foods, the US's largest branded producer and distributor of tinned fruit and vegetables.

US filter and separation systems company Pall Corporation has acquired Gelman Sciences for about US$237 million of Pall common stock.

Dutch company Philips Media is selling its 50% stake in United and Philips Communications, the largest privately-owned cable system in Europe, to its joint venture partner, American concern United International Holdings. The deal is worth US$425 million.

American Electric Power and Public Service Company of Colorado made an agreed £1.5 billion (US$2.43 billion) offer for UK energy company Yorkshire Electricity. The two American companies are using their joint subsidiary Yorkshire Holdings for the bid. The offer follows the acquisition last year of four British electricity companies by US corporations and is in line with a trend towards cross-border utilities acquisitions. The financial advisers to Yorkshire Electricity are NM Rothschild and Goldman Sachs International. Merrill Lynch is advising Yorkshire Holdings.

Allied Irish Banks (AIB) has acquired US bank holding company Dauphin Deposit Corporation for US$1.36 billion. The acquisition, made by Allied Irish Banks' US subsidiary First Maryland Bancorp, brings the banking group closer to its goal of owning a US bank with assets of more than US$20 billion.

Kathleen Moriarty, partner with the New York office of US firm Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, has joined the corporate group of Wall Street firm Carter, Ledyard & Milburn. Moriarty, who specializes in investment trusts and structured finance, earned the name 'Spider Woman' after advising the American Stock Exchange on the creation of an investment trust for the trading of SPDRs (Standard & Poor's Depositary Receipts). These securities can be traded all day on the stock exchange as shares in a unit trust. Before the launch of the SPDR Trust in 1993, investors could only trade their shares in index funds once at the end of each trading day. Moriarty, who has also structured several high-profile municipal bond issues for New York landmarks, joined Carter, Ledyard as a partner on March 17. "Kathleen is an important addition to the corporate practice because of her substantial knowledge of investment companies," says chairman of the group, Robert McTamaney.

UK firms have ambitious plans for US law capability and expansion. But they are facing competition from US, regional and big six-linked firms. Samantha Wigham reports

Grimaldi & Clifford Chance has opened an office in Padua. This is the third office in Italy the firm has established since the association between Grimaldi e Associati and UK law firm Clifford Chance began in 1993. The office will initially have five lawyers led by two partners, Paolo Rulli and Gianandrea Rizzieri. Rulli has moved from the firm's Rome office and Rizzieri joins from local partnership Studio Rizzieri. Both specialize in corporate and international trade law, with Rizzieri providing experience in litigation and arbitration. Associates Federica Greggio and Susanna Rizzieri specialize in international transactions, contracts and litigation.

The recent law implementing EU financial services policy in France has introduced ‘regulated markets’, ‘market enterprises’ and other new concepts. By Antoine Maffei of De Pardieu Brocas Maffei & Associés, Paris