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Firms are facing hurdles in the race to tap the retail investor market. Debevoise & Plimpton’s Erica Berthou, Jordan Murray and Evan Neu analyse the challenges

The first sukuk issued by a non-Muslim country bolsters London’s plan Islamic finance hub plans

A new act on private flat renting (Act) came into force on May 1 2014. It is intended to improve the position of landlords and motivate investors to build private rental flats, and is a special piece of legislation compared to Civil Code. It means that rights and obligations of the landlord and tenant related to private flat renting will be governed by provisions of the Act. The Civil Code will be used only in cases not covered by the Act. The Act does not apply automatically; it is subject to the tenant's acknowledgement that the rental agreement is entered into in accordance with the Act. Hence, parties may still decide to use the legal regime under the Civil Code.

A disjointed regulatory framework has hampered efforts to oversee private investment funds. Here are the lessons that must inform the next round of rulemaking

New rules increasing Canadian targets’ ability to use poison pills are up for comment

Banji Adenusi In May 2014, the Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission issued new rules to address the influx of offshore mutual funds and collective investment schemes (CISs) soliciting investment from investors in Nigeria. The Rules on Approval of Foreign Collective Investment Schemes 2014 aims to bring foreign CISs (registered and regulated under the relevant foreign jurisdiction) which are seeking investments from Nigeria under the jurisdiction of the SEC. As part of requirements for eligibility to solicit investments, foreign CISs that have no intention of listing on the Nigerian exchanges are required to invest no less than 20% of the fund's total assets in Nigeria (Rule 2g). Obviously, the key consideration is the retention of a minimum level of investment within the Nigerian market, and by extension the reduction of capital flight. Equally, the foreign operator is required to appoint a representative in Nigeria for the life of the fund approved in Nigeria. This appointed representative can either be a duly registered fund manager with whom the foreign operator may enter into a representative agreement, or a freshly incorporated representative entity registered with SEC (Rule 3b). Solicitation of investments in the fund is then carried on through the representative (Rule 4). Where the foreign operator elects to incorporate a vehicle for the purposes of registration with the SEC, such local incorporation throws up a host of regulatory compliance requirements, including licensing with the Nigerian Investment Promotion Council and compliance with the various applicable tax regimes.

Karla María León Navarro Several laws have been enacted in Panama to regulate contracts and relationships between employers and employees. These involve specific principles to use in a labour dispute involving a disavantageous position for the workforce. Before a dispute, the judge must take into account one particular legal principle, which has been created to promote an equal relationship. The principle is mainly to protect the worker, who is presented as the legally weaker party compared with the more powerful employer. The principle in dubio pro operario was set out in the Labour Law for several reasons. First, the worker is subject to the employer's disciplinary power, direction and orders. This is a form of economic dependence for the employee, who receives benefits such as a salary, paid holiday, health insurance, sick pay, and retirement contributions.

Ignacio Buil Aldana José Luis Lucena Rebollo Under the Spanish Insolvency Act, clawback is a mechanism enabling an insolvent company's trustee (or the creditors, indirectly) to challenge transactions it entered into within two years of an insolvency declaration, if these transactions are prejudicial to the estate. Even if the parties acted in good faith, proof of prejudice to the estate is sufficient to avoid the transaction and restore the company to the position it would have been in had it not carried out the transaction. In practice, clawback risk contributes to an atmosphere of legal uncertainty for creditors involved in transactions with distressed companies. These transactions typically include refinancing agreements, the granting of fresh money, amendments to the security interest, and even assignments of debt positions.

Janet Butterworth, Norton Rose Fulbright Eric Muller, De Pardieu Brocas Maffei Kai Liebrich, Herbert Smith Freehills Alexander Dolgov, Hogan Lovells

Recent rules are intended to pave the way for Mexico’s fast-moving Fibra sector. How will this new direction affect the market?