Publication
Global rules on foreign direct investment (FDI)
Cross-border acquisitions and investments increasingly trigger foreign direct investment (FDI) screening requirements.
Global | Publication | September 2018
The government wants to tackle what it considers to be unfair practices in the residential leasehold market. In December 2017 it announced plans to ban the sale of new-build houses on a leasehold basis and to require ground rents in all new long residential leases to be set at a “peppercorn” - or zero financial value. (At the time of writing, we await draft legislation). But such measures would not help existing leaseholders with onerous lease terms and the government estimates that about 18 per cent of England’s housing stock is owned on a leasehold basis.
On September 20, 2018 the Law Commission proposed a series of reforms to plug that gap by making it easier for leaseholders of houses and flats to “enfranchise”: to buy their freehold or to extend their lease. The current enfranchisement regimes are seen as complex, expensive and as causing unnecessary conflict, costs and delay.
The proposals aim to
At the government’s request the Law Commission has also provided a series of options for calculating the premium to be paid, seeking to achieve a balance between reducing current premium levels and ensuring that sufficient compensation is paid to landlords to reflect their legitimate property interests. The options range from the adoption of a simple formula, such as a ground rent multiplier or a percentage of the capital value of the property, to options based on current valuation methodology. This issue may prove to be particularly controversial.
The proposals are open for consultation until November 20, 2018.
Publication
Cross-border acquisitions and investments increasingly trigger foreign direct investment (FDI) screening requirements.
Publication
On February 2, 2024, the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union confirmed that the Committee of Permanent Representatives had signed the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Regulation, referred to as the AI Act. Approval by the EU Parliament followed on 13 March 2024, and the AI Act is likely to appear in the EU’s Official Journal around May 2024. The AI Act aims to establish a stringent legal framework governing the development, marketing, and utilisation of artificial intelligence within the region, thereby marking a significant advancement in the regulation of this burgeoning domain.
Publication
The private credit market and direct lending have grown and diversified immensely in the past decade, offering alternative sources and terms of debt compared to those historically provided by the syndicated leveraged loan and public issuance markets. Consequently, they are fast becoming pivotal components in the capital ecosystem, so much so that the Bank of England consider that the private credit market is currently responsible for approximately $1.8 trillion of debt issuance, which is four times its size in 2015. This growth has been particularly pronounced in Europe and the US but there has also been significant activity in Asia.
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