The Family Office
Nigel Harris & Partners, Channel Islands
by Anita Lovell
Many wealthy families are disappointed to find their family business or hard earned assets dissipating over succeeding generations rather than, as they had hoped, consolidating and growing to provide a secure and lasting foundation for their children and grandchildren.
In the USA and among the old European families, the family office is a familiar concept and their use is now becoming more prevalent among the asset rich families of the emerging economies.
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Taking a match to Fortress Europe?
Fladgate Fielder, London
by Eddie Powell
Earlier this year the Court of Appeal for England and Wales held that the parallel importation of Cuban cigars did not amount to trademark infringement even though the importer could not demonstrate express consent to the import. This is believed to be the first time the ‘inferred consent’ defence has been run successfully in the United Kingdom. Is this a cause for concern for brand owners?
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The Impending Reform of Foundation Law in Liechtenstein
LAW OFFICE HARRY GSTOEHL & PARTNER
by Harry Gstöhl, D.E.S.
For decades, the civil law Foundation has existed in Liechtenstein as a Continental European counterpart to the Anglo-Saxon trust (which is also available in Liechtenstein and has been able to gain a foothold).
The Foundation has been particularly (but not at all exclusively) successful in Liechtenstein in the Family Foundation variant. As such, it takes basically the form of either a maintenance or a discretionary Foundation and may serve the current generation of family members as well as the future generations for maintenance or merely as a discretionary Foundation with regular or sporadic grants.
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AIM – the US Connection
Memery Crystal LLP, London
by Greg Scott
Greg Scott, Head of Corporate, at Memery Crystal LLP in London talks about his recent trip to Houston, Texas to explain the merits of the AIM market to US domestic oil and gas companies.
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Back to Basics - Northern Ireland
Cleaver Fulton Rankin, Belfast
by Lisa Boyd
For many years the politicians have avoided the ‘bread and butter’ issues of Northern Ireland and focused on violence, policing and power-sharing. This, together with long-term under-investment, has left a legacy of a deteriorating infrastructure. The Investment Strategy for Northern Ireland sets out an investment of £16 billion over the next 10 years in more than 300 project to address the infrastructure deficit and promote economic growth.
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Services Permanent Establishment according to the Czech Double Taxation Treaties and Czech National Legislation
Peterka & Partners, v.o.s., Prague
by Jaroslava Fojtíková
During the communist period and in the early 1990s, the Czech Republic gave only limited attention to international trade development and Double Taxation Treaties (“DTT”). After the Velvet revolution in 1989 and with the change in the economic situation of the Czech Republic, certain provisions of existing DTTs proved to be deficient and adapting them to the new circumstances appeared inevitable. As a result, the Czech Republic now intends to renegotiate the DTTs concluded during this period.
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Cross Border Mergers in Italy Pending the Implementation of the Directive 2005/56/EC
Corrado, Ferrari, Mainieri, Pedeferri Law Firm, Rome
by Carmine Gravina
After more than 20 years, on October 26, 2005, the European Parliament and the Council finally approved the Directive 2005/56/EC on cross-border mergers of limited liability companies.
The Directive has introduced a uniform and simplified procedure in order to pursue cross-border mergers between limited liability companies incorporated under the laws of a Member State and having their registered office, central administration or principal place of business within the Community, provided that at least two of them are governed by the laws of different Member States.
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(Draft) Communication and Cooperation (‘CoCo’) Guidelines for Cross-border EU insolvency-proceedings
Udink & De Jong, The Hague
by Willem van Nielen
Last year in Bucharest, the European insolvency practitioners association, INSOL Europe, held their annual congress. During that congress Professor Bob Wessels of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and Professor Miguel Virgós of the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid presented their Public Draft of September 2006 on the non-binding European Communication and Cooperation Guidelines for Cross-border Insolvency proceedings, also known as the ‘CoCo-guidelines’.
With their presentation in Bucharest Bob Wessels and Miquel Virgos were seeking to test the draft rules against the experience of the INSOL Europe practitioners. Insol Europe’s Secretary General, Marc Udink, who initiated this project for Insol Europe, during the Bucharest Congress appointed a Committee Best Practices to further develop the CoCo guidelines. As secretary of this CoCo-project, I would like to inform the members of ILN and their clients of the importants of the CoCo guidelines for a better and faster cross border recovery.
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Sweden is Attractive for Investments in Private Equity Funds
Ekenberg & Andersson Advokatbyrå
by Eva Furén
Sweden has an attractive holding company regime. Capital gain on sale of certain shares and dividend distributed from the shares is tax exempt.
The holding regime makes it interesting for both Swedish and non-Swedish investors to set up private equity funds through a Swedish corporation in a tax efficient way. Except the significant tax advantages of investing through a Swedish limited corporation (Aktiebolag) it is also possible to tailor make the repatriation of profit to the investors adapting the needs of each investor by using preference shares in the company.
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The Fiducie: the Concept of the “Trust” is Finally Incorporated Into French Law
Lefèvre Pelletier & Associés, Paris
by Thierry Bernard
The French Parliament recently enacted a law that finally institutes the “fiducie”, the equivalent of a trust under Common Law. Previous plans to introduce the trust into France (1989, 1992, 1994) failed owing to legal and tax obstacles: the Civil Code principle relating to the indivisibility of patrimony, and the fear of facilitating tax evasion or money laundering.
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