INBLF News

Announcement by INBLF Admin

Summary

Announcement

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Announcement by Edward R. Gallion

Summary

Announcement

Dear INBLF Colleague:

As the INBLF Web site and The INBLF Network (ICS) mature, it is important that we take all steps necessary to ensure the complete accuracy and up-to-date nature of the information contained in these critically important informational and marketing tools.

To this end, I wanted to inform each of you that I am no longer the principal contact for such revisions.

Our senior adviser, Joshua Subin, is now vested with primary responsibility for the implementation of any updates and/or revisions to the Web site and ICS.

He is easily reached by email (josh@inblf.com).

Please take a moment to review the information about your firm and practice that appears on the Web site and ICS and inform him of any required updates as soon as possible.  And, as your firm’s particulars might evolve over time, please so inform Josh as necessary.

The immense value of these marketing tools is severely undermined if the information reflected therein are not entirely accurate and current.

Best regards,

Edward R. Gallion

Treasurer, INBLF

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Entry by INBLF Admin

Entry

"Over the last five years, 41 foreign companies have helped Iran develop its oil and gas sector, which accounts for over half of the Iranian government’s revenues, congressional investigators reported on Thursday."

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Entry by Lydia Ng

The latest Budget 2010 unveiled by the Ministry of Finance has introduced initiatives to support business restructuring to achieve higher productivity towards higher-value and more innovative players. The Government is encouraging continuous flow of start-ups and new entrants into the economy. The Government is facilitating mergers and acquisitions by introducing, for five years, a one-off tax allowance scheme to help defray a portion of acquisition costs.

The allowance will be equal to 5% of the value of the acquisition. The acquisition of a $50 million company, for example, will give the acquiring company a tax allowance of $2.5 million. The acquiring company will be able to deduct $2.5 million against its taxable income over 5 years, resulting in total tax savings of $425,000.  There will be a cap of $5 million in a single Year of Assessment.

The new allowance will help the acquiring company offset part of its costs, but without seeking to distinguish between interest costs and other costs. It is therefore neutral between debt and equity in financing transactions.

Stamp duty on the transfer of unlisted shares for M&A transactions valued up to $100 million in any year will be waived.  This one-off concession will also be available for five years.

Thread by Estelle Tan

Stamford Law Corporation’s Director Bernard Lui was quoted in an article in Business Times on the de-listing of Catalist listing FM Holdings. FM Holdings had been given six months to find a new sponsor since the previous, PrimePartners Corporate Finance, quit in January. According to Singapore Exchange’s (“SGX”) rules, each Catalist firm must be managed by a sponsor and if the current sponsor resigns, it must appoint a new sponsor within three months. FM Holdings had failed to get a replacement even after six months and was ordered to de-list by the SGX. SGX was quoted as saying that the maker of giftware “showed ‘a serious and unacceptable governance practice’ with its lack of transparency.”

Stamford Law, which had been approached to take on the role of sponsor, declined the job. Mr Lui was quoted as saying that, “for a company to be sponsored, ‘client procedures’ such as quality of assets and management must pass muster.”

The article was published in Business Times, on the 30^th of July 2010.

URL - http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/sub/news/story/0,4574,397247,00.html?

Thread by Estelle Tan

Stamford Law Corporation was mentioned in the articles in Business Times and TODAY on India’s Fortis Healthcare’s (“Fortis”) complaint to the Securities Industry Council (“SIC”) over a press release issued by Malaysia’s state investment arm Khazanah Nasional (“Khazanah”) on the 21^st of July 2010. Fortis had complained to the SIC that the update provided by Khazanah’s subsidiary, Integrated Healthcare, was “misleading”. TODAY said that according to foreign media reports, the complaint was that the press release was “misleading” as it has stated that Integrated Healthcare has about 50.5 per cent approval out of the 70 per cent votes received. According to an extract from the Press Trust of India quoted in the Business Times, the letter of complaint stated that, “the announcement gave the impression that the 'latest development is a positive development', when in reality both conditions to the partial offer remain unsatisfied. This could mislead the market into thinking that the majority of the Parkway shareholders had cast their votes in favour of the partial offer even when there was a competing (Fortis) offer.”

Parkway shareholders are currently faced with two offers – Khazanah’s partial offer at $3.78 which closes on the 26^th of July and Fortis’s general offer of $3.80 which closes on the 12^th of August.

The articles were published in TODAY and Business Times, on the 24^th of July 2010.

TODAY URL - http://www.todayonline.com/Print/Business/EDC100726-0000032/Finance,-compliance-lawyers-in-high-demand

Business Times URL - http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/sub/storyprintfriendly/0,4582,396377-1280001540,00.html?