Search results for

Non-performing loans are a serious obstacle to the region’s economic recovery. Freshfields’ Agnes Molnar analyses the local and cross-country initiatives that promise to find value in these bad assets

Vu Le Bang Under the Ordinance on Foreign Exchange Control of Vietnam, foreign investors participating in business cooperation contacts (FIs) and foreign invested enterprises (FIEs) must open a direct investment capital account (DICA) at an authorised credit institution. Such institution must be one used for investment capital contribution, principal investment capital remittance, profits, and other legitimate receivables. In this regard, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) issued Circular 19/2014/TT-NHNN (Circular 19), effective from Sept 25 2014, to provide further guidelines. Notably, under Circular 19, FIs and FIEs are permitted to open a DICA in Vietnamese dong, which was not permitted previously. A DICA should be used to perform FIE receipt and expenditure loan transactions, regardless of the type (whether a domestic or a foreign loan) and term of the loan (whether short-, medium- or long-term). DICAs were originally used to deal with foreign loan transactions prior to Circular 19, in relation to FIE loan transactions. Further, payments of capital and project transactions in relation to FIEs should be performed through a DICA. While welcoming Circular 19, many banks in Vietnam have so far raised concerns over its strict implementation, and over the increased obligations it imposes. Specifically, if domestic loans are strictly subject to a DICA, it will likely become more burdensome for all the relevant parties, including the borrower, lender, and bank controlling the DICA. More importantly, it has been argued that the wording regarding a DICA could be interpreted as either 'is allowed to use' (meaning optional), or 'has to be used for' (meaning compulsory), in relation to certain activities under Circular 19.

Terje Gulbrandsen On December 10 2014, Oslo Børs (the Oslo Stock Exchange) resolved certain amendments to the listing rules, with the new rules entering into force on January 12 2015. Before the amendments, there had been a requirement that at the time of application for listing on Oslo Børs, the main part of the company's activities must not be in a pre-commercial phase. Directive 2001/34/EC on the admission of securities to official stock exchange listing does not contain any requirement for a company to have reached a commercial phase in order to be listed on a stock exchange, and nor is there any such requirement for any stock exchange comparable to Oslo Børs. Despite this, Oslo Børs has until now found it appropriate to apply such a requirement for listing on it.

Carmen Arribillaga Sorondo Alicia Galindo Aragoncillo The end of the year was extremely busy but successful for the so-called Spanish bad bank, the management company for assets arising from the banking sector reorganisation (Sareb – Sociedad de Gestión de Activos Procedentes de la Restructuración Bancaria). This was due to the sale of several portfolios comprising a large volume of credits (including credits to developers and office buildings and subsidised social housing units), loans (both performing and non-performing) and real estate owned to international institutional investors. These portfolios were carefully selected and structured by Sareb's business team together with external financial advisors to maximise its value. The portfolios were offered to institutional investors in an open competitive process in which they had access to all information through a virtual data room to analyse independently, to then place their binding offers. Many of these transactions (for more than €850 million, or $1 billion, in total) were completed at the end of the year due to their complexity and negotiation process.

Prisna Sungwanna Supattra Sathapornnanon The Thai Board of Investment (BOI) administers the Investment Promotion Act (1977) under which projects are granted investment incentives, guarantees, and rights to own land. These are important factors in securing project financing. The BOI announced a Seven-Year Investment Promotion Strategy (2015 to 2021) following the issue of Announcement No 2/2557 on December 3 2014, which repeals eight past announcements. It includes a new list of activities eligible for promotion, which has a number of changes from former lists. It prescribes new activity-based incentives and merit-based incentives. Activity-based incentives are divided into Group A and Group B, as indicated in the new list. Group A activities receive corporate income tax incentives, machinery and raw materials import duty incentive,s and other non-tax incentives. Group A is divided into four subgroups. Group B activities receive only machinery and raw material import duty incentives and other non-tax incentives. Group B is divided into two subgroups.

The lighter side of the past month in the world of financial law

Arendt & Medernach's Alexander Olliges, Stéphane Karolczuk and Anne-Laure Giraudeau explain why the Grand Duchy may prove a stepping stone for Chinese fund managers

Law firms ushered in 2015 with a spate of lateral hires. KING & SPALDING's New York office bolstered its cross-border transactional capability with the addition of Ye Cecilia Hong, who was previously a partner at Kirkland & Ellis. Fluent in Mandarin Chinese as well as English, Hong advises public and private borrowers and lenders on multijurisdictional distressed financings and restructurings.

Yesterday the Hong Kong Monetary Authority released its second consultation on its resolution and recovery regime. Here’s what you need to know

Mayer Brown’s Kevin Hawken, Carol Hitselberger and Jason Kravitt explain why the revised securitisation framework will affect EU and US banks differently