Search results for

Recent regulations finalised by the US banking authorities could signal a rocky road ahead for foreign banks

For special committees and advisors undertaking going-private transactions, much can be learnt from recent Delaware court rulings. Here’s the latest best practice

Securitisation would greatly assist China in its efforts to deleverage its economy. Here’s what’s holding the asset class back

To compete with bigger international rivals, Asia’s exchanges are working together through partnerships and networks. But some disconnects must be fixed before they reach their potential

New rules that took effect on August 13 regulate marketing activities relating to Canadian public offerings

Rodrigo de Campos Vieira In a previous article published in this magazine, the author commented on Brazil's unique opportunity to develop the mechanisms for early stage, smaller and also more established medium-sized companies to access the funds they need to grow their business through the equity capital markets. The previous article discussed a project conducted by investment banks, law firms, civil entities, associations and auditors to be presented to the government with alternatives to unlock the growth of Bovespa Mais, the only access stock market in Brazil.

Elias Neocleous The Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of Cyprus have jointly announced that the recapitalisation of Bank of Cyprus (BoC) is now complete. Forty seven and a half percent of so-called uninsured deposits (that is, the excess of deposits over €100,000 ($132,600)) as at the time the bank was placed under the resolution regime have been converted into shares, giving a Common Equity Tier 1 ratio estimated at approximately 12%, well above the required minimum. This is the final stage of the bank's resolution process and, according to the announcement, there will be no further measures under the Resolution Law. Early in the resolution process, 37.5% of the excess of customer deposits over €100,000 was earmarked for conversion into shares and a further 22.5% was withheld as a contingency reserve pending an assessment of the bank's financial position and capital needs. Now that the assessment has been completed, a further five percent of the uninsured balance will be returned to depositors. The remainder, after deduction of the amount converted to shares, will be divided into three equal separate time deposits of six, nine and 12 months, respectively, carrying an enhanced rate of interest. On maturity BoC will have the option to renew the time deposits once for the same duration.

Yukiko Konno According to a public announcement by the Japan Fair Trade Commission (JFTC) dated May 29 2013, the aggregate amount of surcharge payment orders issued by the Commission in fiscal 2012 was approximately ¥25 billion, and was made to 113 business entities (the largest surcharge payment order to a single business entity being approximately ¥ 9.6 billion ($257 million)). It is easy to see that sanctions under the Antimonopoly Act have a great impact on companies with operations in Japan. On May 24, the Japanese Cabinet approved an amendment to the Act. The Bill was submitted to an ordinary session of the Diet in June for approval and is now under discussion. The press release announcing the Cabinet decision can be found on JFTC's website, www.jftc.go.jp/en/ pressreleases/yearly-2013/may/130524.html The most significant amendments in the Bill are the abolition of JFTC administrative appeal procedures for certain JFTC orders, including cease and desist orders and surcharge payment orders, and the introduction of hearing procedures before one of those JFTC orders is issued.

With its communication No 0066209 of August 2 2013, Consob, Italy's securities regulator, has introduced additional information requirements applicable to trusts' shareholdings in listed companies.

José Francisco Meier Traditionally, Peruvian project finance structures have used trusts (fideicomisos) either as passive collateral trusts or cash-flow trusts, to serve as collateral and/or debt service payment mechanisms. Approximately 10 years ago, Peruvian trusts began to be used in a unique manner in project financing structures involving payment certificates for advancement of works issued by the Peruvian government (such as CRPAOs or CR-RPIs). In these structures, the referenced certificates were conveyed by the project developer to a special purpose vehicle, which would securitise or use such certificates as collateral for international securities issuances. In these transactions, payments under such certificates were made through trust structures, which additionally included a private registry of certificate holders to ensure payments were properly made to the applicable certificate holder.