The National Venture Capital Association (US) has prepared various model venture capital documents for use in the industry, including a term sheet (the “NVCA Term Sheet”). These model legal documents are available at www.nvca.org. The American Bar Association has further commented on the provisions in the NVCA Term Sheet, in particular adding commentary including outlining any differences between the California corporations law and Delaware law ...
Overview On November 1, 2005, the Ontario Court of Appeal held that there is no legal requirement to disclose pension plan changes under consideration, as opposed to changes that are finalized. In so holding, it reversed the March 2004 trial decision in Hembruff v. Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement Board, which decided that a plan admini¬strator negligently, and in breach of its fiduciary duty, failed to tell members of potential enhance¬ments to a plan’s early retire¬ment provisions ...
The Scottish Parliament has set out a concrete timetable for business rates to be cut in Scotland to the level of those in England by April 2007 in a bid to boost competitiveness. Finance Minister, Tom McCabe, confirmed the timetable for this equalisation in a statement to the Scottish Parliament on 6 October 2005, outlining plans to stagger its implementation. It is proposed the reduction occurs over a two-year period ...
GETTING PAID ON A COLLECTION FILE – FROM START TO FINISH I. INTRODUCTION This paper is intended to be an overview of various issues and potential pitfalls that inevitably will arise in the course of attempting to collect on a debt claim from the time the debt becomes due all the way through to the enforcement of a court judgment based on the debt claim ...
EC (Protection of Employees (Employers’ Insolvency)) Regulations 2005, SI No. 630 of 2005 The Protection of Employees (Employers’ Insolvency )Act 1984 established rights to certain payments for employees of insolvent companies. New Regulations from the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment provide additional protections to employees of insolvent companies, amending and updating the 1984 Act ...
The treatment of women who feel they are being sexually harassed at work has changed significantly as a result of new regulations forcing employers to take more responsibility for the behaviour of their staff. The Employment Equality (Sex Discrimination) Regulations 2005 were implemented in October , overhauling the previous regime ...
In our last newsletter we provided a summary of the Securities & Futures Commission’s (“SFC”) proposed amendments to the SFC’s guidelines on hedge funds. The SFC has now concluded its consultations and the hedge fund guidelines have been amended. As proposed, in assessing compliance of the personnel of investment managers with the requirement for five years relevant experience, a wider range of hedge fund experience will now be acceptable ...
In January 2005, the Hong Kong Securities & Futures Commission (“SFC”) issued a Consultation Paper on the disclosure of interests in securities of Hong Kong listed companies under Part XV of the Securities & Futures Ordinance (“SFO”). Conclusions to the consultation were issued in May 2005. The most significant of these include the following: Investment managers: non-aggregation Interests (and short positions) of companies are attributed to their holding companies and other “controllers” ...
Authorisation of funds by the Macau Monetary Authority (“MMA”) is necessary for funds to be distributed to the public in Macau. Authorisation will only be granted if the investment funds have been duly authorised in their country of origin and the respective funds managers and custodians are subject to supervision by a competent home regulator. In practice funds are usually authorised in Macau on the basis that they are already authorised by the SFC in Hong Kong ...
The SFC published its conclusions on the Consultation Paper on Proposed Amendments to the Schedule 5 to the Securities and Futures Ordinance in September. The Consultation Paper had proposed amendments to the definitions of certain regulated activities as set out in the SFO. The main proposals were: • To extend the definition of "asset management" to include management of real estate investment trusts ...
Offshore Investment of Foreign Currency Assets of Chinese Insurance Companies Following the Provisional Regulatory Measures on Offshore Investment of Foreign Currency Insurance Assets (“Provisional Measures”) issued by the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (“CIRC”) in August 2004 which allow qualifying PRC insurance companies to invest their foreign currency assets (which include proceeds raised through overseas listing) offshore subject to certain limits (please refer to our Client Update
The Taiwan Financial Supervisory Commission (“FSC”) on 2 August 2005 promulgated new rules governing the offering of overseas funds in Taiwan (the “New Rules”). Please refer to our Client Update by email which was issued in September 2005 and posted on our website: www.deacons.com.hk for our Executive Summary on the New Rules. Deacons has held a client seminar on the subject in September and we had the honour of Mr. Gordon Hsin, senior director of SITCA presiding ...
The SFC and the Jersey Financial Services Commission have signed a letter of intent to enhance regulatory co-operation. The SFC has indicated that this is part of a programme being undertaken with a view to working towards mutual recognition of investment products to enable easier distribution of recognised products. The practical impact of this programme has yet to be seen ...
You’ve probably heard about the dangers of second-hand smoke. But what about the employment-related danger of “second-hand” harassment? Consider this scenario: Mr. Jerk, a bank manager in the credit department, repeatedly harasses his administrative assistant, Gina. He invites Gina to have drinks with him, repeatedly touches her shoulders, and brushes up against her. Gina never complains to anyone in bank management about Jerk’s conduct ...
1.INTRODUCTION The Supreme Court of Canada last considered the issue of mandatory retirement in 1990. Since that time, the demographics of the workforce have changed such that the proportion of retired workers to employed workers is rapidly increasing. This change is due partially to the aging of the baby boom generation and partially due to longer life expectancies of people after retirement ...
Obtaining a Receiving Order by a Single Creditor Introduction Under s. 43(1) of the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, one or more creditors may file a Petition for a Receiving Order if: 1.the debt owing to the petitioning creditor or creditors amounts to $1,000; and 2.if the debtor has committed an act of bankruptcy within six months next preceding the filing of the petition ...
The European Court of Justice has issued an important ruling which could have significant consequences for employers who operate occupational sick pay schemes. In the decision of McKenna v ...
Disciplinary investigations are becoming a minefield for employers, particularly where dismissal is a real likelihood ...
Until recently, employers in Ireland were only obliged to consult with employees in very limited circumstances, such as collective redundancies and transfer of undertakings. Those obligations will remain intact, however the provisions of the Employees (Provision of Information and Consultation) Bill 2005, will provide employees in undertakings of at least 50 employees with the right to information and consultation in the workplace on a greater number of issues ...
Commentators have argued that the effect of this legislation is to force employers to recognise trade unions against their will as there appears to have been a move away from the traditional voluntarist approach to negotiations with trade unions towards a compulsory approach ...
Many employers have been in the potentially tricky and somewhat uncomfortable situation of having to withdraw an offer of employment before commencement. The ordinary principles of contract law apply here. Where an employer withdraws an offer, especially after formal acceptance, a breach of contract claim could arise, at least in theory ...
British industry is undergoing a period of unprecedented regulatory reform as part of a government drive to reduce the costs and burdens on business. Over the next year, it will become clearer how effective this reform will be. Following independent recommendations from the Hampton Review and the Better Regulation Task Force (BRTF), Chancellor Gordon Brown launched the Better Regulation Action Plan in May 2005 with the aim of boosting flexibility and enterprise ...
National Westminster Bank plc v Spectrum Plus Limited and Others [2005] UKHL 41 Overruling the 25-year old judgement in Siebe Gorman & Co. Limited v Barclays Bank Limited [1979 2 Lloyd’s LR142], the House of Lords has held that a charge over book debts where the chargor is free to draw on the account into which proceeds of such book debts are paid, creates a floating charge, rather than a fixed charge ...
Consultation Paper on Conditional Fees On 14 September 2005, the Law Reform Commission of Hong Kong Conditional Fees Sub-Committee (the “Sub-Committee”) published a consultation paper on conditional fees (the “Consultation Paper”) recommending, among other things, that the existing prohibitions against the use of conditional fees in certain types of civil litigation by legal practitioners be lifted, so that legal practitioners may choose to charge conditional fees in appropriate cases ...
