UK firm Richards Butler and Swiss law firm Chabrier & Partners (Geneva) have signed an agreement to form an association. The purpose of this arrangement is to exploit each firm’s expertise in international trade and energy. Switzerland and, in particular, Geneva is a major business centre for commodity and energy trading and trade finance and […]
Jersey and Guernsey are pushing ahead with plans to incorporate the Liechtenstein foundation into their armoury of wealth management structures, writes Simon Gray A fascinating game of mix and match is being played in some of the financial centres that cater to the world’s wealthy individuals and families, as jurisdictions that belong to the civil […]
A raft of City firms led by Herbert Smith have completed the $7.4bn (£4bn) takeover of GE Insurance Solutions by Swiss Re, creating the world’s largest insurer. As revealed by The Lawyer in November, when the deal was announced, Herbert Smith and German ally Gleiss Lutz won the mandate to advise Swiss Re on the […]
Linklaters and Maltese firm Camilleri Preziosi have advised Emirates International Telecommunications (Malta) and Tecom Investments, a Dubai Free Zone company, on their E220m (£151.43m) acquisition of the government of Malta’s 60 per cent stake in telecoms company Maltacom. Both International Telecommunications and Tecom are subsidiaries of Dubai Holding. The deal represents the second round of […]
Bird & Bird has won a role advising on the Republic of Serbia’s privatisation of national mobile network MobTel, the republic’s first-ever privatisation. Bird & Bird is acting for the French consortium advising the Serbian government on the transaction. The privatisation is valued at e800m (£545m) and will create a new telecoms company called Mobi63. Bank Rothschild […]
Ten firms from South East Europe (SEE) are working together to form a regional powerhouse. The SEE Legal Group was formed in 2003 between national firms from Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia & Montenegro. It has since expanded to include Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, Macedonia and Turkey, with Slovenia set to join in March. […]
The long-serving general counsel of privately owned company Ferring Pharmaceutical has quit after the company relocated from Copenhagen to Wallisellen, Switzerland. General counsel Patricia Barclay decided not to move with the company headquarters, which could leave Ferring without a general counsel for much of the year. She has been general counsel since 1984. Ferring has […]
British QC Rosalyn Higgins, who has become the first woman president of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), will hear her first case on 27 February when Bosnia and Herzegovina brings genocide proceedings against Serbia and Montenegro. Blackstone Chambers’ Ian Brownlie QC is leading the defence of Serbia and Montenegro by contending that Bosnia has […]
Societas Europaea, a new EU company status, can offer firms flexibility and potential cost savings. But as Dirk Van Gerven and Elke Janssens report, there are downsides that need to be taken into account A new legal entity under EU law, the European company, or Societas Europaea (SE), was brought in following Council Regulation No […]
Herbert Smith and its German ally has Gleiss Lutz have scooped instructions to advise Swiss Re on the $6.8bn (£3.95bn) acquisition of GE Insurance Solutions. The City firm won the mandate following separate referrals from US firms Simpson Thacher & Bartlett and Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison. Simpson Thacher is advising the Swiss reinsurer […]
China and Hong Kong have become global hot spots for IPOs following the recent closure of the $8bn (£4.52bn) IPO of the China Construction Bank (CCB). Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Herbert Smith have successfully advised on the landmark IPO and listing of the bank on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKSE). The IPO is the […]
Switzerland may still have the reputation for discreet banking, but dubious funds can no longer take advantage of Swiss banking secrecy laws. Michael Fisher reports