Legal News

To lower the risk of opportunistic trading resulting from the pandemic, the French government temporarily tightened its control over investments in strategic public companies. On 29 April 2020, the Ministry of Finance announced tighter controls over foreign investments into French companies, to protect them against opportunistic takeovers as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic....By: Dechert LLP

Last year presented a great many challenges, and much like 2008–2009, the impact was felt on a global basis. The last quarter of 2020 appeared to start with a sense of renewed optimism, with the end of pandemic-driven issues in sight. With known outcomes on matters such as Brexit and global elections, there was a sense of stability, and global markets reflected this. However, by the second week of December, talk of a new strain of COVID-19 and fresh lockdowns threatened to dampen such optimism....

World Law Group member firms recently collaborated on a Global Venture Capital Guide that covers more than 30 jurisdictions on investment approval processes, typical investment sectors and investment structures on Venture Capital deals (and more!)....By: World Law Group

The override of former President Trump's veto of the National Defense Authorization Act of 2021 resulted in the enactment of broad amendments to the US anti-money laundering regime. Of particular note is the inclusion of the Corporate Transparency Act, which now requires many US entities (and non-US entities registered to do business in the US) to report their beneficial owners to FinCEN, a unit of the US Treasury Department. The law has clear implications for the broader corporate...By: White &...

In September 2020, the FTC announced that it would be proposing a series of changes to the Hart-Scott-Rodino Premerger Notification regulatory regime with the anticipated publication of both a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“NPRM”) and Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“ANPRM”). Both were published in the Federal Register on December 1, 2020, triggering a 60-day comment period, which is set to expire on February 1, 2021....By: Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr LLP

Overview - This report looks at how Joe Biden’s election will impact U.S. and global transactions, and whether the recent strong recovery in M&A markets will now accelerate. Efforts to control Covid-19 may yet be the biggest swing factor. Please see full Publication below for more information....By: Allen & Overy LLP

A company that does not perform adequate due diligence prior to a merger or acquisition may face both legal and business risks. Perhaps most commonly, inadequate due diligence can allow a course of bribery to continue - with all the attendant harms to a business’s profitability and reputation, as well as potential civil and criminal liability. While most compliance practitioners have been long aware of the requirement in the post-acquisition context, the 2012 FCPA Guidance focused many...By: Th...

For the fifth consecutive year, the Bass, Berry & Sims Healthcare Private Equity Team hosted BBS Connect, a forum to connect healthcare dealmakers during the annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference. Over three days – January 11-13, 2021 – we brought together senior executives and healthcare dealmakers on the front lines of the healthcare industry’s hottest sectors. Our sector-focused sessions included insights into deals completed in 2020, opportunities and challenges healthcare companies...

There are few things more fundamental to the sell-side private equity deal practice than, to the maximum extent possible, (1) establishing a contractual cap on post-closing liability for breaches of reps and warranties made by the target company or the selling stockholders and (2) contractually exonerating/releasing the selling entity’s human agents and nonparty affiliates from any exposure to tort liability arising from or related to the transactions that are the subject of the private company...

In its recent decision in R (on the application of Friends of the Earth Ltd and others) v Heathrow Airport Ltd, the Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeal's decision that the planned expansion of Heathrow Airport was unlawful on climate change grounds, and determined that the UK Government had taken proper account of the UK's climate change commitments. Background - In June 2018, the UK Government supported Heathrow Airport Ltd's ("Heathrow Airport") longstanding plans to develop a third...