Legal News

The offshore wind sector continues to grow at an unprecedented rate, particularly in Europe, and increasingly in Asia and North America. The construction phase of any project is vulnerable to delay. That is particularly the case when construction is taking place in a challenging offshore environment. How, in legal terms, are delays addressed? Who takes the risk of delay?...By: White & Case LLP

The Main Street Lending Program, intended to provide credit support to small and medium sized businesses, became operational on July 6, 2020.It includes many borrower-favorable economic terms, including a 5-year term, a low interest rate (capped at LIBOR + 3%), an interest payment deferral of 1 year and a principal payment deferral of 2 years, and a generally borrower-friendly amortization schedule. However, the Main Street Lending Program possesses certain characteristics that could negatively....

In Somerset Fine Home Building, Inc. v. Simplex Industries, Inc., the Appellate Division of the Second Department in New York upheld a dismissal based on the plaintiff’s breach of the parties’ forum selection clause. Somerset Fine Home Building entered into a sales contract with a modular home supplier for the purchase of a home. The sales contract included a forum selection clause specifying Pennsylvania as the location for any lawsuit or arbitration......By: Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued Executive Order 20-166 on July 7, 2020, extending the declaration of a state of emergency to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). The extension of the declaration of a state of emergency concerning a natural emergency provides additional time for developers and other permit holders to toll…...By: Holland & Knight LLP

On July 9, 2020, in an en banc opinion authored by Chief Justice Collins J. Seitz, Jr., the Delaware Supreme Court affirmed a decision by the Delaware Court of Chancery, which relied on the unaffected stock price of Jarden Corporation to determine its fair value in a post-merger appraisal action. Fir Tree Value Master Fund, LP v. Jarden Corp., No. 454, 2019 (Del. July 9, 2020). “Although it is not often that a corporation’s unaffected market price alone could support fair value,” explained th...

Linear infrastructure projects, including oil and gas pipelines, electric transmission lines and transportation, have faced a number of regulatory challenges in recent months. Some of these challenges stem from changes in regulatory schemes or adverse court holdings, while others stem from uncertainty of pending Endangered Species Act (ESA) listing decisions and other actions....By: Nossaman LLP

OPEC and its oil-producing allies (in Russia and elsewhere) are reportedly working on a plan to ease cuts on oil production they agreed upon in April “amid signs that demand is returning to normal levels following coronavirus-related lockdowns” and internal pressure from the Saudis....By: Robins Kaplan LLP

This update provides an overview of key regulatory developments in the past three months relevant to companies listed, or planning to list, on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (HKEx), and their advisers. In particular, it covers amendments to the Rules Governing the Listing of Securities on HKEx (Listing Rules) as well as announcements, guidance and enforcement-related news from HKEx and the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC). From time to time it will also cover other recent market....

The final Vertical Merger Guidelines issued on June 30, 2020 provide guidance to the business and legal communities on how the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) currently analyze the competitive impact of vertical mergers. The new guidelines apply to strictly vertical mergers (combinations of firms or assets at different stages of the same supply chain), “diagonal” mergers (combinations of firms or assets at different stages of competing supply chains), and...

On May 21, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) amended the financial statement and other disclosure requirements that apply when public companies acquire or dispose of a business or real estate operations. The amendments simplify and rationalize the current rules, and should on balance decrease the regulatory burdens on public companies. The amendments continue the SEC’s focus on reducing the regulatory burdens on public companies and facilitating access to public capital...