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International Edition

Eversheds tightens formal ties to Baltic trio

Eversheds has tightened its links with its Baltic allies, with its affiliated firms in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania all becoming full members of Eversheds International. The offices became members of the firm at the beginning of this month (1 April), less than a year after signing up as allies last June.
2 minute read

International Edition

A&O, CC underline global focus with more overseas promotions

Allen & Overy (A&O) and Clifford Chance (CC) have unveiled their new partner promotions, with both firms seeing a decline in the overall number of partner promotions compared with last year, but an increase in promotions in overseas offices. A&O promoted 28 associates to partner, down from 32 last year, while magic circle rival CC named 35 new partners, down from 38 in last year's promotion round.
2 minute read

International Edition

Republic of Ireland: Onward and upward

Ireland's ascent from economic basket-case to European role model has been little short of miraculous, as it has transformed its economy from one of Europe's poorest to one of its richest in little more than two decades.In the early 1980s Ireland suffered from high unemployment, mass emigration and high taxation. Now, it has some of the lowest taxes and healthiest public finances in Europe; labour shortages and the flow of migration has been spectacularly reversed, and Ireland's GDP per capita has recently overtaken England's, unthinkable in the 1990s.
13 minute read

International Edition

Republic of Ireland: Courting confidence

The cooling Celtic Tiger economy, more stringent credit terms from banks and a static property market are all revealing the failures in the Irish legal system when it comes to resolving commercial disputes. This in turn is giving rise to huge uncertainty in the commercial sector. While there has been improvement from the delays of up to three years from cases being set down to the hearing date, there are still problems for commercial matters in the jurisdiction of E38,000-E1m (£30,000-£783,000). This has led to difficulties for companies and has exacerbated the cooling of the economy and the availability of cash for trading companies.
6 minute read

International Edition

Republic of Ireland: Celtic crunch

For many years, Ireland has been a leading jurisdiction in which to establish special purpose vehicles (SPVs) for structured financing transactions. The main reason for this has been the attractive taxation regime for Irish SPVs, commonly known as 'section 110' companies in reference to the provision under Irish tax law that forms the basis of the structured financing industry in Ireland. In addition to the tax benefits, a thoughtful legal and regulatory framework and highly-regarded infrastructure of professional advisers and service providers have all contributed to the success of the Irish structured financing industry. Pre-credit crunch, Ireland had established itself as a location of choice for the establishment of SPVs for an impressive variety of transactions including asset-backed securitisations, repackaging, collateralised debt obligations (CDOs), collateralised loan obligations (CLOs), warehousing, structured investment vehicles (SIVs) and other structured finance transactions.
8 minute read

International Edition

Republic of Ireland: Under examination

The current market volatility has impacted on all companies operating in the financial sector, and Irish companies and financial institutions are no different. Recently, there have been two high-profile cases involving Irish companies which have sought the protection of the Irish courts in order to attempt to restructure their debts and to deal speedily with financial problems encountered due to market downturn. This article discusses how the examinership regime in Ireland has been used to afford those companies the chance to restructure and survive.
7 minute read

International Edition

Republic of Ireland: Money marketing

There have been a number of significant international and Irish legal and regulatory developments since July 2007 in the financial services arena. A number of these developments stem from the continued movement at European Union (EU) level towards the integration of European financial markets as envisaged by the Financial Services Action Plan, while a number of these developments are domestic in nature albeit arising from international market developments (for example, the regulation of non-deposit taking lenders engaged in retail lending in Ireland arising from concerns over defaults in the sub-prime mortgage sector).
8 minute read

International Edition

Republic of Ireland: Opportunity knocks

During the past few years, the Irish Funds industry has been focused on taking full advantage of the opportunities that the Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities III (UCITS III) Directive presents. This had led to significant innovation in production, principally through the use of financial derivative instruments such as the use of total return swaps by index tracking and exchange traded funds, the development of 130/30 type funds and the expansion of money market funds. UCITS funds currently represent 80% of the total net asset value of Irish registered funds. The total number of Irish registered funds as at 31 December, 2007 was 4,780. The administration of non-Irish registered funds is another critical component of the Irish Funds industry and, based on figures provided by the Lipper Ireland Fund Encyclopaedia, there were 2,752 of such funds being administered in Ireland as of 30 June, 2007. These funds are almost exclusively alternative investment funds.
7 minute read

International Edition

Ex-Coudert partners face $12m bill to settle bankruptcy

Former partners at Coudert Brothers will need to pay about $12m (£6.02m) to help liquidate the defunct law firm according to a plan produced by an examiner in the firm's bankruptcy, writes the National Law Journal. In a report issued on 27 March, court-appointed examiner Harrison Goldin determined that former Coudert partners should pay $11.8m (£5.92m) in exchange for liability release from creditors and the firm itself, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after a mass exodus of partners.
2 minute read

International Edition

Orrick eyes merger deal for German debut

Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe is in talks to enter the German market - with a merger the firm's preferred route into the country. The US firm is already in talks in Germany, with Duesseldorf corporate firm Holters & Elsing touted as a potential target.
2 minute read

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