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Many have touted collective action clauses as the answer to future sovereign debt restructures. But Bazinas Law Firm's George Bazinas and Yiannis Sakkas believe that more fundamental legal doctrines offer a better solution

After a few quiet years, the market is ramping up for a period of growth. Shearman & Sterling's Marwan Elaraby, James Comyn and Amine Assouad explain the local idiosyncrasies that have caused the sector to develop on its own trajectory

TozziniFreire's Marta Viegas and Oduvaldo Lara Júnior explain how minority shareholders are capitalising on their improved rights. It makes the country a strong contender to be activist investors’ next frontier

Volumes in Europe are up this year. But trading issues are damaging liquidity, and hampering the market’s full revival

The country's financial sector must address its large volume of non-performing loans. Gianni Origoni Grippo's Giuseppe Schiavello analyses a recent reform that could make it easier for banks to offload these portfolios

Market conditions are primed for Russian corporates to buy back their eurobonds. Debevoise & Plimpton's James Scoville, Robert Manson and Dmitry Karamyslov describe the particularities of the original issuance structures that must be taken into account

Other capital funds as one of the components of a company´s equity in Slovak entities (Funds) are used primarily when there is a need to inject cash into a company in a very short time. A company's equity comprises: (i) share capital; (ii) capital funds (including the Funds); (iii) funds created from net profit; (iv) profit or loss from previous years; and, (v) after-tax profit or loss for the accounting period. The issue of contributions to Funds has long been a subject of intense legal discussion in Slovakia. The main discussion is focused on the issue of whether the Funds may represent cost free contributions and may be freely returned to the shareholder who provided them.

Isil Ökten Aslihan Özbey The Capital Markets Board of Turkey (CMB) published the Communiqué Serial: III 59.1 on Covered Bonds (new Communiqué) in the Official Gazette on January 21 2014. The New Communiqué is part of regulatory improvements to Turkey's bonds and securitisation market. It introduces a consolidated legal framework regulating asset-covered bonds and mortgage-covered bonds. In order to clarify certain issues under the new Communiqué and to make the issuance of covered bonds more effective in Turkey, the CMB recently published an amendment to the new Communiqué (amended Communiqué). According to the new Communiqué, if any cash collection is made from the assets in the pool, the issuer must either: (i) record the proceeds to the cover registry; (ii) remove the cash from the cover registry for the payments of the covered bonds; or (iii) replace the cash with the new security assets. One of the major amendments to the new Communiqué introduced by the amended Communiqué is that now the issuer is free to use the cash proceeds provided that it complies with the statutory tests and all other liabilities.

Soonghee Lee Sung Woon Kang An amendment to the Act on Real Name Financial Transactions and Confidentiality (ARNFTC) was passed in the plenary session in the National Assembly on May 2 2014 and will come into effect on November 29 2014. This amendment prohibits parties to a financial transaction from entering into the transaction by another's real name (borrowed name transaction) and imposes a criminal and administrative penalty and civil disadvantages on the violators. The contents of the amendment include several main points. The amendment includes a prohibition on borrowed name transactions by parties to a financial transaction. The version of ARNFTC in force only imposes on financial institutions and others the duty to use the real name of the party to the financial transaction. Moreover, the existing ARNFTC leaves open the question of interpretation as to whether financial transactions not by a real name include borrowed name transactions. The amended ARNFTC prohibits borrowed name transactions by providing that 'it is prohibited to conduct financial transactions by using another person's real name for the purpose of hiding unlawful properties, money laundering, or providing funds for terrorism or avoidance of enforcement and any other illegal acts' and subjects offenders to a possible jail term of five years or less or fine of W50 million or less. However, the amended provisions limit the prohibited borrowed name transactions to cases where certain purposes are found, such as the hiding of unlawful properties. Moreover, although the amendment prohibits borrowed name transactions with the purpose of 'any other illegal acts', it does not provide the definition of 'illegal acts'; therefore, it is uncertain how the amendment will be applicable to transactions in practice.

Elias Neocleous Following the entry into force of the Alternative Investment Funds Law of 2014 (AIF Law) on July 27, the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission (CySEC) has issued guidance on transitional arrangements. The AIF Law regulates the establishment and operation of alternative investment funds (AIFs) in Cyprus and replaces the International Collective Investment Schemes Laws of 1999 and 2000 (ICIS Laws). It designates CySEC as the supervisory authority for AIFs. Following article 4(1)(a) of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive, the AIF Law defines an AIF as 'a collective investment undertaking, including investment compartments thereof, which raises capital from a number of investors with a view to investing it in accordance with a defined investment policy for the benefit of those investors and is not authorised as an Undertaking for Collective Investments in Transferable Securities (Ucits) in accordance with section 9 of the Open-Ended Undertakings for Collective Investments Law of 2012'.