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Private Equity
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May 1, 2012
Big Biz Hails Obama's Order To Align International Regs
Targeting a worldwide web of red tape, President Barack Obama on Tuesday issued an executive order seeking to standardize international regulations, winning cheers from the business community.
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April 30, 2012
Wall Street Groups Say Risk Rule Shouldn't Cover Nonbanks
Wall Street lobby groups on Monday said that regulators should create new rules for nonbank financial companies determined to be systemically significant. A proposed rule that would subject insurers and other such companies with $50 billion or more in assets in the same way as banks is sufficient and not legally sound, they said.
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April 27, 2012
DOE Broadens Enviro Review Of $11B Blackstone Power Line
The U.S. Department of Energy will expand the scope of its environmental impact statement for The Blackstone Group LP's 1,000-megawatt power line linking Quebec and New York, the agency said Friday, after developers adjusted the $11 billion project's route to quell environmental groups' concerns.
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April 26, 2012
Senate Dems Want Final Volcker Rule Issued By Summer
Senate Democrats on Thursday pressed U.S. regulators to complete the Dodd-Frank Act's ban on proprietary trading this summer, and urged them to adopt the strongest portions of the existing proposal rather than start from scratch on a new version.
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April 24, 2012
Unions Rip Blackstone Power Project While NYC Pol Backs It
Empire State unions ripped Blackstone Group LP's proposed Canada-to-New York City power line Tuesday, calling it a job-busting "$11 billion extension cord to Canada," while a New York City lawmaker spoke out in favor of its promise of environmentally friendly electricity.
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April 24, 2012
Chicago Approves $1B Public-Private Infrastructure Trust
The Chicago City Council voted Tuesday to approve the Chicago Infrastructure Trust, a public-private partnership Mayor Rahm Emanuel has said could raise more than $1 billion for infrastructure projects, starting with $200 million for energy-efficiency improvements at city buildings.
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April 19, 2012
Fed's Volcker Rule Grace Period Eases Bank Uncertainty
The Federal Reserve's Thursday announcement that banks have at least a full two years to comply with the still unfinished Volcker Rule should ease concerns over what will happen when the rule goes into effect in July, attorneys said.
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April 17, 2012
Wall Street Says Volcker Rule Ignores Swap Market Reality
A quartet of Wall Street industry groups said Monday that the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's proposed version of the Volcker Rule could essentially eliminate many market-making activities necessary to keep the largely illiquid swaps market functioning.
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April 12, 2012
Don't Count On JOBS Act To Spark IPO Craze, Attys Say
Private equity firms are set to take more companies public now that the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act streamlines the process, but less red tape and lighter costs are not enough to spark an initial public offering bonanza, attorneys tell Law360.
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April 11, 2012
SEC Seeks Input On JOBS Act Ahead Of Rulemaking
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said Wednesday that it would begin accepting comments on the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, opening the door to droves of securities attorneys anxious to weigh in on the recently signed law.
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April 6, 2012
Passage Of JOBS Act Adds To SEC's Rulemaking Burden
President Barack Obama signed the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act into law on Thursday, and while some of the new statute's provisions took effect immediately, others will require rulemaking by regulators already well behind on their list.
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April 6, 2012
Simple Volcker Rule May Be Out Of Reach, Experts Say
In late March, one of the Dodd-Frank Act's authors joined the banking industry in asking for a simpler version of the law's ban on proprietary trading by commercial banks. But a stripped-down Volcker Rule may well be impossible, experts say, simply because there is no straightforward way to define or measure proprietary trading.
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April 3, 2012
Business Plans For Finance Cos. In Flux With SIFI Rule
The Financial Stability Oversight Council on Tuesday approved a final rule for determining which insurance companies, hedge funds and other nonbank financial companies will be deemed systemically important financial institutions, establishing a regulatory roadmap attorneys said could raise tough questions for some firms contemplating growth strategies and other business goals.
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April 2, 2012
FSOC Vote Could Put Key Nonbank Firms Under Fed Rule
The Financial Stability Oversight Council will vote Tuesday on a final rule and interpretive guidance for the regulation of nonbank financial institutions deemed to be systemically important, a key plank of the Dodd-Frank Act's reform package.
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March 30, 2012
Union, Nuke Operator Say No To $2B Blackstone Power Line
Entergy Corp., which runs the 2,000-megawatt Indian Point nuclear plant, and a utility workers' union concerned about potential use of nonunion labor came out swinging Friday against Blackstone Group LP's proposed $2 billion Canada-to-New York City power line.
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March 29, 2012
Volcker Rule Could Clobber Energy Industry, Report Warns
The proposed Volcker rule restricting banks’ speculative trading has the potential to sap energy development, increase electricity and gasoline costs, and put hundreds of thousands of people out of work, according to a Morgan Stanley-commissioned report released Wednesday.
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March 29, 2012
JOBS Act To Bring Hedge Funds Into Advertising World
With Congress passing the JOBS Act earlier this week, hedge funds and private equity firms soon could start advertising to the general public for the first time, pulling them out of the shadows of the financial world, attorneys say.
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March 29, 2012
Private Fund Registration Number Beats SEC Expectations
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has taken in applications for registration from about 1,300 hedge and private equity funds since Jan. 1, hundreds more than originally expected, an SEC spokeswoman said Thursday.
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March 28, 2012
With More Investor Safeguards, JOBS Bill Heads To Obama
A collection of six measures meant to help U.S. businesses access capital more easily is headed to the president's desk after passing the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday, but not without beefed-up restrictions aimed at protecting investors from fraud.
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March 27, 2012
$133B NY Budget To Boost Energy, Infrastructure Projects
New York legislative leaders reached a deal Tuesday on a $132.6 billion state budget that aspires to boost infrastructure fixes and private investment in energy projects but has no room for a health insurance exchange, which will be created by executive order, or a study on environmental risks of hydraulic fracturing.
Expert Analysis
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FATCA Insight: Grappling With Cross-Border Payments
Under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, U.S. companies will have to withhold 30 percent of payments to foreign companies from U.S. sources under agreements signed after 2013, even in cases where there would not otherwise be any withholding tax. From the standpoint of a U.S. developer, the focus should be on trying to get a foreign lender — such as a foreign bank, private equity fund or insurance company — or other payee to provide proof that it is exempted from FATCA withholding, say Kelly Kogan and John Marciano of Chadbourne & Parke LLP.
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7 Resolutions For Legal Industry Marketing In 2013
The New Year is still in its infancy, and there is no better time to craft a list of professional resolutions. To ease into the process, consider seven easy steps for super-charging your marketing and communications efforts in 2013, says Michael Bond of Blattel Communications.
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Get Ready For More Private Equity Regulation
Recent regulatory inquiries, coupled with the ongoing trend of investors shifting more of their assets to private equity funds, suggest that we will see increased scrutiny of the PE industry in the coming years. As such, PE firms will begin to feel pressure to develop or refine compliance plans for their own firms as well as any acquired companies, and will need to provide assurance that the requirements of anti-bribery, privacy and other applicable laws are being heeded, says Kenneth Yormark of Navigant.Consulting Inc.
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SEC Signals Increase In PE Enforcement Actions
Bruce Karpati, chief of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Enforcement Division's Asset Management Unit, recently offered remarks at the Private Equity International Conference in New York. While his comments do not represent a departure from the SEC's previously stated positions related to the private equity industry, his words do signal an increased focus on the industry, say attorneys with Goodwin Procter LLP.
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What DT3 Means For German Private Equity Exits
The German Federal Court of Justice decision regarding the third tranche of the government's privatization of Deutsche Telekom is one of the most disputed court decisions affecting capital markets transactions in Germany in recent years. In connection with secondary share placements in Germany, selling shareholders — e.g., private equity firms — will need to evaluate their options for managing the prospectus liability risk on a case-by-case basis, say Dr. Stephan Hutter and Dr. Katja Kaulamo of Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP.
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A Useful Spin On Costly Section 338(H)(10) Election
Careful vetting of relative tax benefits and costs has generally been key in a private equity firm’s decision whether to request a section 338(h)(10) election in the acquisition of a U.S. subsidiary from a U.S. tax group. But the decision rarely offers much room for creativity. Recent IRS guidance confirms that more innovative approaches can be used to maximize the tax benefits on exit, say David Schnabel and Erin Cleary of Debevoise & Plimpton LLP.
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Data Mining: What Financial Services Firms Need To Know
As a general rule, the use of mined data does not violate legal requirements. However, the fast-growing data-mining industry is raising concern among federal regulators and policy makers. A hedge fund or other financial services firm that uses data-mined information should establish controls and surveillance to address potential insider trading, privacy and other risks, say Henry Massey and Megan Tlusty of Day Pitney LLP.
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Hybrid Bonds Help Fill Europe’s Real Estate Funding Gap
As Europe’s commercial real estate debt market enters its sixth year of “credit crunch” disruption, it is increasingly clear that traditional bank lending will not be able to meet the demand for new finance. Meanwhile, the market for high-yield debt has seen considerable growth, making high-yield bond issues an increasingly attractive source of funding to the debt-starved European real estate industry, say attorneys with Paul Hastings LLP.
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7 Areas Commodity Operators Should Watch In 2013
As a result of significant changes to the regulatory regime for commodity pool operators and commodity trading advisers in 2012, various types of collective investment vehicles that previously were not regulated by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and their operators and advisers, became subject to CFTC oversight as of Jan. 1, 2013. We anticipate additional significant developments for the CPO and CTA regulatory regimes with respect to seven areas in particular, say attorneys with Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP.
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Encouraging Signs For Leveraged Loans In 2013
One of the main factors contributing to positive market conditions in 2012 was the increased number of investors in both the primary and secondary loan markets. With an unexpectedly strong collateralized loan obligation issuance in 2012 — topping the combined total of the past four years — structured finance vehicles rapidly increased their share of the primary institutional term loan market. Given the unwavering investor demand for loans in late 2012, we expect borrower-favorable trends to continue in 2013, say attorneys with Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP.