Conference programme

What skills do clients expect of cross-border lawyers? What are clients’ expectations in multi-jurisdictional matters that involve multiple law firms or multiple offices of the same global firm? Whether working with foreign offices of the same global firm or retaining foreign counsel from independent local firms, creating a ‘cross-border team’ that will play seamlessly in the client’s corner presents intrinsic challenges, running from lack of communication and proper understanding of cultural differences to lack of (or mis-) understanding of the legal position in the foreign jurisdiction – all issues that, ultimately, generate distrust among lawyers
and potential disservice to the client. War (if not horror) stories abound.

In this seminar, law firm practitioners and general counsel will lead the discussion of these topics; given the hands-on training nature of this program, we encourage active participation by the audience. 

Loan sales have been used by banks as an important tool to clean up their balance sheets since the 2007–2008 financial crisis. Regulators have encouraged these sales aiming to drive down banks’ non-performing loan (NPL) ratios. Private equity funds have invested hundreds of billions of euro in this asset class giving rise to customer protection concerns because these funds are perceived to have different strategic aims compared to traditional bank lenders. In a fast-changing interest rate environment in 2023, increased volumes of loan sales are expected. 
This panel will discuss how loan sale transactions have evolved in different jurisdictions and what we might expect into the future. In particular, the panel will focus on the extent to which financial services regulation is shaping the market, including the regulation of non-bank credit servicers. 

This session dives into the current listing landscape and the competitive position of stock exchanges globally. Even in the current volatile stock market, issuers continue to look for the best environment to raise capital, enhance liquidity and drive an efficient listing process, and stock exchanges across jurisdictions are competing to attract high profile issuers. The session discusses the current trends and future outlook of the IPO  and listing market and looks into the considerations that are relevant for the choice of listing venue and the dynamics behind multiple listings.

Over the last years, the convergence of financial services and technology industry has resulted in the emerging of new players, which have expanded their horizons all over the world. This 
has been a great opportunity to open financial markets to new players and for traditional credit entities that were forced to adapt to FinTech in their line of business. Around the world, the legal response to this matter has been diverse, although we could still trace certain similarities. 
In this panel, we will go through the legal framework that rules the FinTech industry in the different continents, analysing how governments have taken proactive and/or reactive regulatory approaches encompassing and/or decoupling banks, financial institutions, and technology businesses; particularly, regarding crypto assets, service/payment providers, digital wallets and open banking.

Many large mergers and acquisitions are abandoned before closing because of value-creation, regulatory and political  issues. Even pre-pandemic, a McKinsey survey of the period 2013-2018 showed that 10% of large M&A deals failed. The pandemic worsened this: by September 2020, 82 deals had been abandoned (vs 58 transactions in same period in 2019). Prior to LVMH initially pulling out in September 2020 of its US$ 16n,2 billion takeover of Tiffany (initially announced in November 2019) invoking a French government order following a spat between the Trump administration and France over tariffs on luxury goods, L Brands Inc. and Sycamore Partners had litigated before agreeing ultimately in May 2020 to cancel the take private of Victoria Secret. Following court hostilities, Tiffany and LVMH settled on new deal terms in October 2020 with a 2.6% cut on the price per share, and the litigation was ultimately settled in January 2021. The September 2020 offer by Nvidia for Arm was declared dead in February 2022 following a FTC lawsuit and opposition from the regulators in Britain. The German government blocked the acquisition of a German semi-conductor manufacturer by a Chinese buyer in late 2022. Things in the Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard are equally getting heated as three regulators line up against the deal.  A panel of experience deal makers with Texposuruesday 17 Januarye to busted but also to successful deals will give you their view as to do’s and don’ts.

What are the client diversity expectations and how can we satisfy them? 
This session will also address what actions are the best practices at various law firms to satisfy such client expectations in general, particularly in the finance sector.

Covid-19 and the remote prospectus drafting and verification sessions that it promoted, have affected the way in which part of the less formal diligence process is done. In some jurisdictions nothing may have changed, but in others the changes have been profound – and they seem here to stay. Is this good, bad or indifferent? An expert panel will consider whether the market has merely developed a more efficient way of working, or whether standards risk being eroded. The panel will analyse some of the new practices from an issuer and from an underwriter perspective, and an attempt will be made to formulate practical guidelines that safeguard the interests of investors while retaining efficiency gains made during the pandemic.

Environmental, social, governance (ESG) principles have been present in many aspects for project development long before these principles found their way into the general corporate/banking world more recently. With governmental and international bodies enacting new, different policies across the globe, addressing 
ESG aspects properly has become a key element for a successful project and its financing. The session discusses the current trends and future outlook of ESG and its impact on structuring projects and their financing and the new requirements applicable to stakeholders involved in such projects.

The treatment of crypto-assets in collateral arrangements remains an area of major legal uncertainty. Moreover, a key issue that surfaced on day one after the first insolvency proceedings were commenced with respect to crypto companies in mid-2022 was the treatment of property rights and interests in crypto assets. The session will expand on the relevant issues (including questions of applicable law; issues of ownership, possession, transfer and control of a digital asset; how to establish collateral and security interests; risks relating to custody and intermediation; and effects of technological events such as forks, staking, etc) and will also provide an overview of the related work of UNIDROIT.