Sky Blog
The COVID-19 pandemic is causing financial distress to economically viable firms on an unprecedented scale. In this post, we introduce the novel idea of creditor cooperation duties to stabilize corporate workouts.
The prospect of widespread defaults by viable firms triggered …
The coronavirus pandemic has weakened European economies and companies. EU and national governments have expressed concern that foreign investors may opportunistically take advantage of the crisis to acquire domestic companies regarded as strategic.
Acquirers should anticipate the risk that governments …
As would be expected given the current environment, M&A activity globally and in the U.S. declined across almost all measures in March. Globally, the number of deals decreased by 3.2%, to 2,527, and total deal value[1] decreased by 17.5%, …
Amid the ongoing push for standardized, comparable and decision-useful ESG disclosures, regulators in the United Kingdom and the European Union have proposed additional disclosures and benchmarks to promote sustainable economic activity. The United Kingdom’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published …
Notwithstanding numerous COVID-19-related challenges faced by market participants, UK regulators have affirmed that—at least for now—the anticipated cessation of the London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”) at the end of calendar year 2021 remains unchanged. Complying with regulators’ and working groups’ …
The alarming prospect of widespread defaults by viable firms caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has prompted various proposals for financial assistance from states. But firms might face financial distress before these measures become effective. Smaller firms with concentrated debt may …
The recent outbreak of novel coronavirus (also known as COVID-19) has had devastating effects since the first cases were reported in the city of Wuhan in China on 23 January 2020. As of 19 February there have been 75,285 reported …
President Donald Trump’s proposed $4.8 trillion budget calls for folding the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), America’s audit watchdog, into the Securities and Exchange Commission, the nation’s primary financial regulator. The stated goal is to eliminate duplicative regulations and …
The U.K. Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has published “Guidance on the Functions of the CMA Under the Withdrawal Agreement” (Guidance), which sets out the regulator’s approach to merger and competition cases during the Brexit transition period that …
The problems in global financial markets are often similar, even though the capital market structure across jurisdictions differs significantly. The beginning of the 21st century was marked by a spate of international corporate scandals, and the 2007-2009 global financial …
In 2020, businesses operating in the UK will need to grapple with the continued uncertainty caused by Brexit and will need to closely monitor a number of important corporate governance and reporting developments expected in the coming year.
There is a worldwide debate over how to prevent overly aggressive corporate tax avoidance. In 2015, the Australian government doubled civil penalties on large multinational corporations that engage in the practice. Similarly, recent legislation in the United States, like the …
The UK operates a voluntary merger control regime[1]. In addition, the European Commission (EC) operates a ‘one-stop shop’ jurisdiction to review the largest and most complex cases on behalf of all EU Member States, including the …
If you google “Lithuania e-money,” the auto-fill function will suggest that you search for ”Lithuania e-money license.” If you accept the tip, the first result will be Ecovis, which describes itself as “the most experienced finance institution and FinTech licensing …
A no-deal Brexit would have significant and immediate effects on UK competition law enforcement:
In an extraordinary judgment delivered by Lady Hale, 11 justices of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom ruled unanimously on September 24 that the suspension – or “prorogation” – of Parliament last month was “unlawful, null and of no …
On August 6, the United Kingdom’s Serious Fraud Office (“SFO”) published new guidance on the steps companies should take in order to receive cooperation credit in the SFO’s charging decisions. The document, titled “Corporate Co-operation Guidance” (the “SFO Guidance”),[1]…
On July 4, 2019 the UK Serious Fraud Office (“SFO”) secured approval for its fifth Deferred Prosecution Agreement (“DPA”) before the Crown Court sitting at Southwark. The DPA is with Serco Geografix Limited (“SGL”), …
Shareholder activism is growing in popularity across the world and appears to deliver mostly benign results for firms and stockholders. However, testing the effects of activism is problematic. For at least 30 years, researchers have recognized the difficulty of causal …