Investors, investment managers and others with direct or attributed interests of 5% or more of any Hong Kong listed company are subject to Hong Kong’s substantial shareholder disclosure regime. Inadvertent breaches of the regime are common, largely because of its complexity and investors’ misapprehensions of the requirements. A review of enforcement actions over the last year indicates an increasingly aggressive approach by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) ...
An exemption from “acting in concert” is available under the Hong Kong Codes on Takeovers and Mergers and Share Repurchases (Takeovers Code) to entities within a large financial group which manage investment accounts on a discretionary basis and which maintain acceptable levels of segregation regarding confidential information through Chinese Walls ...
The UK's Financial Services Authority (FSA) has issued a Feedback Statement on its discussion paper DP05/4 "Hedge funds: A discussion of risk and regulatory engagement" and has urged firms to focus on the risks posed by side letters "which will remain an area of supervisory focus". Side letters have become a common feature for institutional investors investing in hedge funds with the result that such investors receive preferential treatment and more information than other investors ...
At its Singapore 2006 AGM, ISDA announced the publication of a new set of definitions – the ISDA 2006 Fund Derivative Definitions (Fund Definitions). The Fund Definitions are intended to provide basis terminology for use in confirmations of derivatives transactions linked to interests in various types of pooled investment vehicles, such as hedge funds and mutual funds, for which a liquid secondary market may not exist ...
On March 15, 2006, the German Federal Cartel Office published a new Leniency Program, which replaces the previous Notice 68 of 2000. With this Program, the FCO offers cartel participants wishing to leave a cartel and cooperate with the FCO immunity from or reduction of fines. A summary of the new Program can be found at: http://www.worldservicesgroup.com/files/groups/1494_0330023908 ...
On St Patrick’s Day the Irish Revenue Commissioners issued a communication, through CREST, in relation to CFDs. In the communication the Revenue said they believe the underlying hedging transaction behind a CFD, where the broker acquires Irish shares, may not fall within the relevant stamp duty exemptions that the brokers are claiming. If the Revenue are correct the broker has a 1% stamp duty liability on this hedging transaction ...
In April last year, companies were given greater flexibility in protecting their directors against certain liabilities as a result of changes to the law. The changes recognised increasing concern over directors' exposure to liability arising from legal proceedings brought by third parties. The Companies Actprohibits a company from exempting directors in respect of liability if negligent, in default or in breach of duty or trust ...
China presents enormous opportunities for the wealth management industry. Since the opening up of China’s banking and other financial industries to foreign investments, foreign banks, securities companies, insurers and fund management companies have sought to establish presence in this market through the setting up of representative offices, branches, foreign direct investments and joint venture companies ...
November and December 2005 saw the Hong Kong real estate investment trust (“REIT”) market burst into life, with the listing of three REITs on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong – The Link REIT (Hong Kong retail and car parks), Prosperity REIT (Hong Kong commercial) and GZI REIT (office buildings in Guangdong, PRC) ...
In 2006, the SFC plans to conduct another investigation into licensed investment advisers. This follows a report issued in February 2005, in which the SFC noted industry practices that posed “serious regulatory concerns”. It is timely, then, for investment advisers to review their adherence to the standards of conduct expected of them by the SFC. We set out below some of the practices that investment advisers should adopt to ensure regulatory compliance ...
The China Securities Regulatory Commission (“CSRC”) and State Administration of Foreign Exchange (“SAFE”) have, in recent months, issued consultation drafts of proposed amendments to the two major regulations governing Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors (“QFIIs”): and . According to the draft regulations, certain amendments are to be implemented. Under the existing regulations, QFIIs are subject to relatively long investment lock-up periods ...
As it is considered as of general interest, we would like to mention that on December 30, 2005, the Federal Official Gazette published an executive order amending Article 117 and Article 118 of the Financial Institutions Law ...
Some important changes to the Act respecting the legal publicity of sole proprietorships, partnerships and legal persons (the “Act”) took place effective January 1st, 2006.The Act generally applies to all legal persons, partnerships and individuals carrying on an activity in the Province of Québec and requires those entities to register with the Enterprise registrar ...
On 13 December 2005, the European Court of Justice ("ECJ") found Marks and Spencer plc ("M&S") could claim group tax relief from UK tax authorities in relation to the losses incurred by its former European subsidiaries that had ceased trading in Belgium, France and Germany in 2001. M&S argued that just as UK resident companies in a group may set off their profits and losses among themselves, so the same should be possible for the losses of foreign subsidiaries ...
Gas Natural’s high profile courting of Endesa has had a choppy ride on the roller coaster ship of public takeovers. Not only is the desired companion resisting the marriage, but also is she summoning the high waves of competition law in her defence. Not much of the public debate of the competition law aspects is focussed on the merits of perhaps one of the last industry transforming mergers in the Spanish energy markets ...
Scottish Enterprise has a number of schemes to make it easier for small to medium-sized businesses to access growth funding, such as a loan, equity finance - where the investors take shares in your company - or a combination of the two ...
The new Irish Commercial Court is living up to expectations by providing a fast and effective means of resolving commercial disputes. A&L Goodbody recently secured for a full hearing within two days of a case being accepted by the Court. The matter involved an arbitrator's referral of a point of law. The speed as well as the terms of decision were crucial in protecting the client's interest ...
Scottish Enterprise has a number of schemes to make it easier for small to medium-sized businesses to access growth funding, such as a loan, equity finance - where the investors take shares in your company - or a combination of the two ...
On Wednesday 21 December, Ms Justice Laffoy issued her long-awaited judgment in Fyffes’ multi-million euro insider dealing action against Jim Flavin and his company Development Capital Corporation plc (DCC) and two of its subsidiaries. The decision follows 87 days of evidence, which closed in July 2005. Ms Justice Laffoy ruled that the defendants were not in possession of price sensitive information at the time they sold their shares in Fyffes and as such, no civil liability to Fyffes arose ...
The Government has recently announced changes to the proposed regime of confirmation by directors of compliance by a company with its obligations. This note explains the background to the announcement and comments on the new proposals. Background - 2003 Act From the time that the Companies (Auditing and Accounting) Act, 2003 was first published there was considerable and widespread concern voiced about the proposed regime for Directors’ Compliance Statements ...
“We consider that the Competition Act, 2002 captures the bulk of the anti-competitive practices which the Groceries Order was originally designed to prevent. However, we consider it desirable to significantly strengthen the Act in some respects and particularly to specially prohibit resale price maintenance, unfair discrimination and “hello money”. Such provisions will, henceforth, be enforced by the Competition Authority ...
Persons responsible for filing annual returns for the following types of companies should be aware of this commencement order: Most private unlimited companies; Private companies not trading for the acquisition of gain by the members; Companies not having a share capital which are formed for an object that is charitable and is under the control of a religion recognised under Article 44 of the Constitution; and Companies which are exempted from certain filing requirements by order of the Co
In the Matter of Swanpool Ltd (in Voluntary Liquidation) and Travelodge Ltd (in Voluntary Liquidation) and in the Matter of Section 150 of the Companies Act 1990; McLaughlin v Lannen and Lannen, High Court, Clarke J, 4 November 2005 Facts: McLaughlin, the liquidator of Swanpool and Travelodge, sought a declaration that two directors of the companies be restricted (i.e. prohibited from acting as directors of companies for 5 years) ...
In the Matter of James McMenamin Ltd. (in Voluntary Liquidation), High Court, Laffoy J, 18 April 2005 Facts: In this case, a company in liquidation suddenly found funds that were previously unavailable, in an amount that would allow it to trade successfully again. Therefore, one of the contributories of the company sought to have the liquidation halted so that the company could resume trading as normal. The company’s sole asset was a 26-acre plot of land ...
