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A new era of enforcement: The 9th year of Hong Kong antitrust 2024 was undoubtedly a busy enforcement year for the Hong Kong Competition Commission (Commission). Over the last year, the Commission has focused its investigation efforts on hardcore cartel conduct - conducting several raids with other local law...
BLOG: Can you get tax deductions for payments in lieu of penalties? The UK Court of Appeal says YES! UK regulators had investigated failings by several energy providers. The investigations were settled with the imposition of nominal £1 penalties and redress payments totalling around £28 million. The nominal penalties were non-deductible for corporation...
Horizon Scanning 2025 Podcast Launch Series Hosted by our Director of Knowledge and Learning, Claire Marshall-Barrand, the launch series for 2025 offers five short episodes introducing this year’s major themes. Throughout the year, we’ll continue the conversation with in-depth episodes exploring...
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Private capital's year of building momentum: Is the stage set for 2025? 2024 remained a challenging year for private equity fundraisings, investments and exits. Assets purchased in the era of cheap leverage and high multiples remained locked, with many auction processes failing to take off or being interrupted, while...
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M&A health-check: will favourable conditions and regulatory easing drive M&A growth in 2025? 2024 was a mixed year for dealmaking, with deal values, if not volumes, increasing compared to 2023. Whilst private capital saw a moderate increase in activity, 2024 has been notable for the significant uptick in larger corporate-to-corporate activity in...
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Private equity: the evolution of an industry Since the advent of the modern private equity industry in the early 1980s, private equity houses have traditionally adopted the classic model of a buyout fund, raising capital from a club of large institutional investors to fund acquisitions and drive...
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London calling Reports of the death of UK equity capital markets have been greatly exaggerated. While the London market certainly faces serious competition from overseas, the tide is turning on the City declinism of recent years amid a series of co-ordinated efforts...
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To run on or buy-out Whilst the total value of defined benefit (DB) scheme liabilities being transferred to an insurer in the first half of 2024 has been lower than expected, the number of transactions (134) has eclipsed another record in the UK, the highest number of deals...
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Time to rethink business tax (again)? Over the last year, many businesses will have incurred significant costs in adapting to the new global corporate minimum tax, but following the US election in November 2024, there are concerns about the effectiveness of this measure without US support...
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Navigating the Asia M&A landscape 2024 has been a relatively subdued year for dealmaking in Asia, overall. The activity levels broadly reflect pressures on M&A seen in most parts of the globe – higher inflation, higher interest rates and increased geopolitical tensions – and there...
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Financing in 2025 Credit markets performed well in 2024, supported by an improving macroeconomic backdrop and robust demand from almost all segments of the market. While borrowing costs remain high relative to recent years, falling inflation and a subsequent easing of...
  • Crisis Management
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America first? The continuing rise of class actions in England and Wales A long-standing feature of the US legal system, the growth of class actions in England and Wales continues to represent a significant risk for many businesses operating in this jurisdiction even without the adoption of a full US-style class action culture...
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Reflections and Projections on FCA Enforcement As we enter 2025, the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) finds itself at a key juncture. Over the past year, it has made progress in refining its enforcement strategy, adopting a more proactive approach to interventions, and increasing the pace and...
  • Crisis Management
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2025 activism playbook: trends, expectations, and corporate preparedness Globally, shareholder activism in 2024 has continued to rebound from the pandemic downturn, with campaign activity nearly at the record levels reached in 2018. 
  • Crisis Management
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M&A Disputes: a reminder on high risk areas for disputes and the latest on managing them Following a period of geopolitical instability and economic uncertainty, while M&A activity has come back, it has brought with it an uptick in disputes between parties looking to get out of bad deals or, at the less extreme end of the spectrum,...