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China’s new rules for domestic companies selling offshore bonds will benefit issuers, but credit enhancement structures will remain crucial

Regulatory scrutiny has increased FCPA risks for private equity and hedge funds in their dealings with sovereign wealth funds. Sidley Austin's Robert Keeling, Ike Adams and John Lupton explain why

The Netherlands is one of Europe’s most creditor-friendly jurisdictions. NautaDutil's Teun Struycken and David Viëtor explain how the country is vying with Luxembourg as the holding company jurisdiction of choice

The offshore RMB market’s future? As international financial centres compete for the status of offshore renminbi hub, some market participants fear a rise of transaction risk due to the currency's lack of a natural home. Trades between two US dollar-denominated accounts are cleared in New York while onshore renminbi trades are cleared via the China National Advanced Payment System. But offshore renminbi can be cleared in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore. London and Frankfurt will also gain clearing capabilities soon.

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

The use of UK schemes of arrangement (SOA) by foreign-incorporated companies has been boosted by a decision to allow German company APCOA Parking to utilise a scheme despite minimal connection to the country.

In tandem with high M&A dealflow, US and Canadian law firms aggressively expanded their corporate practices in late April and early May. One of the latest firms to ramp up its private equity practice is MCDERMOTT WILL & EMERY, which lured transactional and fundraising partner Michael Sartor from Ropes & Gray. On the opposite coast, SIDLEY AUSTIN recruited emerging companies and venture capital specialist Sam Zucker as a partner in Palo Alto. Late in April, KIRKLAND & ELLIS announced the opening of a Houston office and its hire of M&A lawyer Andrew Calder from Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, whose private equity clients have included KKR and Blackstone Energy Partners.

José Ramón Paz Morales In the early 1990s, with the support of the international community, two securities exchanges were established in Honduras that formalised the domestic securities market for public offerings and injected much-needed capital into various sectors of the Honduran economy, especially the energy sector. By the mid 1990s, around 150 non-financial sector issuers were listed in both securities exchanges, representing approximately 90% of the total issuers listed. These issuers provided a broad range of attractive investment instruments to all kinds of local and foreign investors. In 1998, the Honduran financial system suffered a systemic crisis that began with wide ranging defaults in different sectors of the Honduran economy, caused by the effects of Hurricane Mitch. The crisis was aggravated by the lack of regulations in monitoring and controlling systemic risk and safeguarding the stability of the financial system as a whole. The Honduran securities market received far less support from the government than the banking sector, and as a result, was the most affected. By the end of the 1990s, trust in the domestic securities market was reduced substantially.

Riaz Janjuah, White & Case Johan Ysewyn, Covington & Burling The big news in Brussels was the departure of Clifford Chance EU competition partner Johan Ysewyn to COVINGTON & BURLING. Having only joined Clifford in 2011 from Linklaters, the news is timely for Covington following the loss last year of its head of competition. Ysewyn will be joined by former Covington lawyer Peter Camesasca is returning to the firm after running his own competition outfit. Elsewhere in the city, public law specialist Barteld Schutyser has rejoined EUBELIUS from DLA Piper, having previously been an associate partner with the firm from 2002-07. In particular his work focuses on public procurement law and public-private partnerships (PPP) and regulatory litigation.

Niloy Pyne Barnik Ghosh Private Equity (PE) firms entering the Indian market have adopted two types of indigenous models for investment, since the model of leveraged buy-out followed in many western markets is not permitted in India. These models are: (i) the growth model, where PE funds acquire a minority stake in a company with some affirmative rights and a board seat primarily for oversight, but no involvement in the day-to-day management; and (ii) the buy-out model, where PE firm buys an ownership stake either on its own or with other PE firms in the expectation of exit through public listing. PE firms need an approval from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) for foreign investments into funds which have been registered as trusts under the Alternative Investment Funds (AIF) Regulations 2012. Indian asset managers sponsoring PE funds set up offshore vehicles, which need to first be registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), which takes about a month or so. The application is then sent to the Reserve Bank of India, which generally takes an additional six months for clearing the application. Simultaneously, an application needs to be filed with the FIPB for foreign direct investment clearance in case of foreign investments.