The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has today handed down judgment in the Akzo privilege case, confirming that legal professional privilege does not apply to protect communications between parties and their in-house lawyers from disclosure during competition investigations by the European Commission (Akzo Nobel Chemicals Limited and Akcros Chemicals Limited v Commission of the European Communities). Although the decision will not come as a surprise, following as it does the Advocate General's opinion published on 29 April 2010 (see our e-bulletin of that date), in-house lawyers and the organi

Greece raised €1.17 billion ($1.5 billion) in an oversubscribed sale of 26-week treasury bills Tuesday, in the first of a regular monthly debt issue as Greece tests the market's appetite for buying Greek debt, the Associated Press reported. The treasury bill sale, originally for €900 million,- was oversubscribed 4.54 times - compared to 3.64 times for the last 26-week T-bill issue in July - and had a yield of 4.82 percent, the Public Debt Management Agency said. It accepted additional noncompetitive offers of euro270 million.

Under the FSA Client Asset Sourcebook (‘CASS’), “client money” must be segregated, and is subject to a protective a statutory trust. In the case of a large number of clients, Lehman Brothers International (Europe) (‘LBIE’) failed to segregate client money. Accordingly, its administrators applied to the High Court seeking directions on the firm’s obligations in administration in relation to the distribution of client money.

The following two exemptions from the annual subscription tax (taxe d'abonnement) will, without a doubt, attract additional investment fund promoters to Luxembourg: as from the fiscal year 2010 onwards, an exemption will impact both UCIs and specialized investment funds (SIFs) which either invest at least 50% of their assets in one or several microfinance institutions or benefit from the microfinance label from the Luxembourg Fund Labelling Agency. a draft legislation has, as from 1 January 2011 onwards, proposed that there be also an exemption for Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs). These measur

In this issue:

- The distinctive features of the Ukrainian legal system do not always promote the development of cross-border financing. - As a general rule, all transactions with Ukrainian borrowers regarding receipt, repayment and servicing of cross-border loans must be made via a Ukrainian servicing bank. - All cross-border loans to Ukrainian borrowers (with a few exceptions, ie loans under state guarantee) are subject to state registration with the National Bank of Ukraine.

In this issue: 1. On transactions using special payment instruments 2. On amendments to certain regulatory acts of the NBU 3. On approval of amendments to the regulations governing the operations of Ukrainian banks 4. On the NBU granting stabilization loans to Ukrainian banks 5. Salans advises Noble Resources Ukraine LLC on a $24 million loan from EBRD

1. Tax Incentives for the Hotel Industry On 8 July 2010, the Ukrainian Parliament passed the law “On Amending Certain Legislative Acts of Ukraine with regard to the Development and Preparation of Hotel Infrastructure for the Final Part of the European Football Championship 2012 in Ukraine”. According to the law, from 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2020, enterprises’ profits from providing hotel services (sales of hotel rooms and additional hotel services) in hotels of 3-, 4- and 5-star categories are exempt from CPT if such hotels have been put into operation by 1 September 2012.

LIEN ON ME: (citation: Richard J. Corbi; U.K. Supreme Court Ignores Priority Payment Scheme: A Lesson in Loan Drafting, XXIX ABI Journal 7, 46-47, 49, September 2010) - Richard J. Corbi

EUROPEAN UPDATE: (citation: Adam Gallagher; The New Austrian Insolvency Law: A Leap Toward Better Debtor Protection, XXIX ABI Journal 7, 32-33, 82-83, September 2010) - Adam Gallagher