Legal News

The European Commission’s (EC) June 2020 white paper proposing wide-ranging controls over foreign-subsidized companies’ access to Europe’s internal market has received fresh impetus. In a report issued earlier this month, the European Union’s (EU) audit body faulted the EC for a hitherto balkanized approach to foreign state-backed acquisitions. Senior administration officials have committed to maximum legislative priority for the proposals....By: Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

A new European regime on sustainability-related disclosures in the financial sector will come into force from March 2021, after first being announced in 2018 during the European Commission’s Action Plan on Sustainable Finance....By: Proskauer Rose LLP

In our first webinar, we will address: - Understanding what is possible with nonprofit advocacy - Identifying and avoiding political campaign intervention - Navigating permissible lobbying activities - Protests, civil disobedience and tax exemption......By: Davis Wright Tremaine LLP

The latest on the potential Oracle/TikTok deal includes news that the Treasury Department has added requirements addressing “how TikTok’s data and source code would be handled and secured” to any potential deal that the companies have agreed to in principle [and that Walmart’s back in the mix]....By: Robins Kaplan LLP

Divestment activity is poised to increase over previous years as COVID-19 economic conditions put pressure on companies to rebalance operating portfolios. A 2020 EY Global Corporate Divestment Study, released earlier this year, forecasts a sharp rise in divestitures, with 78% of companies saying they plan to divest within the next two years, and 57% saying they plan to divest within the next 12 months......By: Fenwick & West LLP

In recent times, energy efficiency has become a key priority for both public and private sector entities. A 2019 study by the International Energy Agency (IEA) showed that energy efficiency is a key resource for economic and social development across all economies. To this end, customers around the world have increasingly enlisted the help of specialist Energy Saving Companies ("ESCOs") to design and implement energy savings measures ("ESMs") at their premises......By: White & Case LLP

On September 3, 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division released a revised Merger Remedies Manual (“Manual”), providing a modernized framework to structure and implement remedies in merger cases where DOJ determines that the transaction would harm competition. DOJ last updated its merger remedy guidance in 2011, with guidelines that endorsed so-called “conduct” or “behavioral” remedies as an acceptable solution to harm caused by certain mergers......By: Bracewell LLP

The Canadian Securities Administrators recently published amendments to National Instrument 51-102 Continuous Disclosure Requirements (NI 51-102) related to the Business Acquisition Report (BAR) requirements. The amendments are intended to reduce the regulatory burden on reporting issuers that are not venture issuers (i.e., issuers that are listed on the TSX and not the TSXV) by changing the criteria under which an acquisition is considered a significant acquisition....By: Bennett Jones LLP

In In re USG Corp. S’holder Litig., 2020 WL 5126671 (Del. Ch. Aug. 31, 2020), the Court of Chancery granted the director-defendants’ motions to dismiss post-closing money damages claims arising out of the sale of USG Corporation (“USG”) for less than what USG’s directors allegedly thought was its intrinsic value. Although the failure to disclose such “intrinsic value” prevented dismissal under Corwin v. KKR Financial Holdings, LLC, 125 A.3d 304 (Del. 2015), Vice Chancellor Sam Glasscock I...

The Fed sought to reassure markets for the foreseeable future on Wednesday by announcing that it plans to hold rates at their near-zero mark until into 2023 as it tries to “coax the economy back to full strength after the pandemic-induced recession”....By: Robins Kaplan LLP