New Zealand / Chile: NZ Tax Change Causes Cost to Increase for Chilean Operations

A delay in Greymouth moving forward with oil and gas production for over a year, and an intervening change in New Zealand tax law (as it relates to offsetting exploration costs in other countries against their New Zealand…

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Brazil: Opportunities for Distressed Transactions

Increased M&A activity has occurred in Brazil over the past few years for several reasons, including the effectiveness of the Federal Law # 11.101/2005, the Brazilian Judicial Recovery Act, which has an important role in restructuring companies in…

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Ireland: Easiest Courty to Pay Business Tax

According to The Paying Taxes 2010 report, which was compiled by PricewaterhouseCoopers, the World Bank and IFC, covering 183 countries and looking at all taxes paid by businesses, Ireland ranked as the easiest country in Europe to pay…

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Kazakhstan: New Foreign Investment Legislation

Professor M.K. Suleymenov’s Powerpoint type survey of the new Kazakhstan foreign investment legislation touches on the highlights of how the new regime differs from the prior, somewhat hostile, direct foreign investment environment in that country. New Kazakhstan Foreign…

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Vietnam: Legislative Potpourri

Vietnam Net has produced a very good survey of legislation introduced in Vietnam over the past year.   As they note: “Some of this legislation proved beneficial to investors and some of it, well, less so. Regardless of the…

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EU: Better Late Than Never

It may have been a long time coming, and certainly well after the liberalization envisaged in the originating Treaties of Rome (i.e. the treaties establishing the EEC, the precursor to the EU, which came into effect in 1958),…

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Chile: Chile Moves Closer to OECD Membership

On December 15, 2009 the OECD invited Chile to become its second member in Latin America after Mexico. Chile will formally accept this invitation when an Accession Agreement is signed in the presence of Secretary-General Angel Gurría and…

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Jordan: Prime Minister Encourages Foreign Investment

Samir Rifai, Jordan’s Prime Minister, in speaking with the Jordan Security Commission, said the new income tax law will encourage local and foreign investments and will not be a law focused on “collection”, adding that there will be…

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Australia: ASX Corporate Governance Principles and Recommendations – proposed changes

The Australian Stock Exchange has published a communique in which it sets out a proposal to amend the Corporate Governance Principles and Recommendations to require listed companies, on a comply or explain basis, to adopt and disclose a…

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UK: Bankers with Few Options

With the rise in UK taxation, and an ever more onerous regulatory environment, UK bankers are looking for options.  The conventional thinking was that other options existed, and that Westminster had better move carefully on suppressing City activity. …

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