Welcome to the new half-yearly review of Krogerus' highlights! In this newsletter, we will share recent case highlights, firm news and insights. Foreword As 2024 draws to a close, it has been a busy year at Krogerus, despite challenging market conditions and ongoing geopolitical uncertainties. While there is still a degree of darkness and uncertainty in the world, we are seeing positive signs in the transactional market, which often signal the start of economic recovery ...
Implications of the Finance (2025 Budget) (Jersey) Law 202- for property transactions Stamp duty relief for group company transfers Perhaps the most welcome change is the long-overdue introduction of stamp duty relief for group company transfers of immovable property. To date, transactions between companies within the same corporate group have been subject to stamp duty at the full rates, disincentivising corporate property restructures ...
Carey Olsen advises MNRPF on £450 million longevity swap transfer The transaction, which will form part of MNPRF's investment portfolio, protects MNRPF against longevity risk and enhances security for MNRPF members. The Carey Olsen Guernsey corporate team advising on the transaction comprised partner Tony Lane and senior associate Arya Hashemi. Linklaters acted as onshore counsel for the trustee and Eversheds Sutherland acted as onshore counsel for MetLife ...
Acquisition by a Company of its own Shares The Companies (Guernsey) Law, 2008 (as amended) (the “Law”) permits a Guernsey Company to acquire its own shares. Listed companies may use this mechanism to return surplus cash to shareholders, to enhance earnings per share or net assets per share, or to adjust gearing ratios. Listed funds may wish to provide greater liquidity in their shares, especially if the market for their shares is relatively narrow ...
Carey Olsen advises Keyex Limited on successful application for registration as a BVI VASP Keyex provides a platform for cryptocurrency exchange including buying, storing, trading and selling digital assets. Its registration is amongst the first to be approved under the VASP Act, which aims to position the BVI as a leading jurisdiction for digital asset innovation globally ...
Oxford University launched at the COP29 Meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan, the Climate Policy Monitor, a granular survey of 30 major countries’ climate-related policies and their effectiveness in mitigating climate change. The study was developed by researchers at the University of Oxford through pro-bono partnerships with 48 leading law firms, including SyCipLaw, which provided data and analysis on the Philippines’ climate policies ...
Family offices which choose to manage their global investments from Malta have been given a new legal exemption through a recent amendment in the applicable investment services rulebook of the Malta Financial Services Authority (“MFSA”). On the 27th of November 2024, the MFSA issued a circular titled “Establishment of Single Family Offices in Malta” ...
Carey Olsen advises Guernsey 'first of its kind' captive assisted buy-in The transaction involved the issue of a c£500 million BPA contract by M&G's wholly owned subsidiary, The Prudential Assurance Company Limited ("PAC"), to a UK pension trustee. As with a traditional buy-in transaction, under the BPA, PAC insures the trustee's liability to its pension scheme members ...
The presidential and congressional campaigns brought considerable disagreement on a number of platform issues that were constantly in the daily news cycle. Each brings their potential political polarization, yet we heard less about economic development incentives that often bring bipartisan support. Many of these vehicles lead to accomplishing the common goals of stimulating economic development and community revitalization ...
On Oct. 10, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced that TD Bank pled guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering and agreed to pay over $1.8 billion in penalties to resolve the U.S. Department of Justice's investigation into money laundering and Bank Secrecy Act violations. When combined with agreements with the Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the U.S ...
SyCipLaw Senior Partner and Head of Banking, Finance & Securities Department Philbert E. Varona, Partners Mark Xavier D. Oyales, Ricardo Jesus E. Gutierrez, and Associate Marcella Maria L. Karaan contributed the Philippine chapter of the new Chambers Project Finance 2024 Global Practice Guide ...
SyCipLaw Senior Partner and Head of Banking, Finance and Securities Department Philbert E. Varona, Partners Jan Celine C. Abaño-Ranada, Camille Angela M. Espeleta-Castillo, and Ricardo Jesus E. Gutierrez prepared the Philippine chapter of the latest Chambers Debt Finance 2024 Global Practice Guide (GPG) ...
Introduction Directive No. 19 (the “Directive”), issued by the Central Bank of Malta (the “CBM” or the “Central Bank”) on the 7th July 2021 officially came into effect on 1st January 2022, with amendments issued in September 2024. It applies to all paper-based instruments issued, processed, or encashed within Malta’s jurisdiction, as long as these instruments are denominated in euros ...
Metro Bank PLC was fined £16,675,200 (after a 30% discount) by the Financial Conduct Authority for failings in its transaction monitoring systems and controls. The FCA found that the bank’s failures led to the risk it was inadvertently being used for the purposes of financial crime. Key facts: Metro Bank PLC implemented an Automated Transaction Monitoring System (“ATMS”) to monitor customer transactions ...
Carey Olsen advises on sale of SandpiperCI's food retail business to Morrisons The Carey Olsen Jersey corporate and property teams led this cross-border acquisition, which included a pre-completion group reorganisation and advice on real estate, finance, employment, and pension matters for stores operating across Jersey, Guernsey, and Alderney ...
Chapter 647 of the Laws of Malta, titled the Markets In Crypto-Assets Act (hereinafter referred to as “Chapter 647”), integrates all aspects of Regulation (EU) 2023/1114 of the European Parliament and Council on markets in crypto-assets (“MiCAR”) ...
On 8 November 2024, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, after three readings, adopted the amendedAnti-Money Laundering Law(the "Amended AML Law"), which will take effect on 1 January 2025 and replace the originalAnti-Money Laundering Law(the "Original AML Law"), in effect since 2007 ...
What are single-use vapes and why are they being banned? Single-use vapes are vapes which are not designed or intended to be re-used and are not refillable and/or not rechargeable. They are being banned for both health reasons and environmental reasons. As regards the environmental reasons, they pose a major waste problem in the UK, as they are often thrown away in general waste or littered, instead of being recycled ...
Corporate Power Purchase Agreements, or CPPAs, are long-term electricity supply agreements between two parties and are a valuable catalyst for the green energy transition. Currently, only around a very small proportion of UK businesses have the financial capacity and energy demand to use larger scale CPPAs, but as a firm we are working with clients to find innovative ways to democratise the procurement of renewable energy ...
Remuneration and governance The Bill inserts provisions into the Water Industry Act 1991 to enable Ofwat to make rules about pay and governance in the water industry ...
1. Introduction We are not only living in a digital age but also in an age where individuals and businesses increasingly depend on banks for their day-to-day activities. The convergence of these two factors is compounded with the increased use of artificial intelligence (AI) both generally and specifically in the banking sector. From a general perspective, AI start-ups in 2013 received USD 2 bn in investments globally which increased twelvefold in 2018 to USD 24 bn [1] ...
Carey Olsen takes lead role in new TISE 'Specialist Companies' equity rulebook Carey Olsen is part of the TISE Rules Committee, which helped finalise the Specialist Companies Equity Rules (as well as all previous Listing Rule updates). The Specialist Companies Equity Rules are intended to attract privately held structures whose securities are not intended to be frequently transferred or traded and which are primarily held by institutional and professional investors ...
****Dear Ladies and Gentlemen!**** Since 2022 restrictions are imposed with respect to transactions with persons from “unfriendly” countries in the Russian Federation. Thus, for a certain number of transactions/operations (i.e. issuance/repayment of loans, execution of financial instruments, distribution of dividends/profits etc ...
As the year winds down, it’s a good time to take stock of your life as both a person and a litigator. Are you going in the direction you want, are you shortchanging one aspect of your life to benefit another? Is it working for you? Guests Anne Marie Seibel and Paula Hinton are experienced and highly successful litigators who explain how they learned to balance family and careers, professional goals, and personal aims ...