Italian Securities Commission returns to ordinary reporting requirements for listed issuers. By Antonio Coletti, Isabella Porchia, Guido Bartolomei, and Marta Negro The Italian Securities Commission (CONSOB), by press release dated April 12, 2021, announced its decision to end the more stringent reporting requirements originally introduced on April 9, 2020, as a response to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on financial markets. While the more stringent requirements were renewed in three month…

By Rob Moulton, Nicola Higgs, Anne Mainwaring, Becky Critchley, and Anna Lewis-Martinez The latest edition of our Private Bank Briefing provides a roundup of legal and compliance issues impacting private banks and their clients from Q1 2021. In this edition, we cover some of the key regulatory announcements relating to MiFID II and the impact of COVID-19, the latest on Brexit, the FCA’s announcement on the dates for cessation of LIBOR…

Parties seeking to rely on video-link evidence should plan ahead and, where necessary, obtain local and foreign court approval. By Dan Smith The COVID-19 pandemic has (albeit by necessity) ushered in a move towards remote justice. The vaccine rollout continues, and as lockdown restrictions begin to ease, English courts are now considering to what extent that move towards remote justice should continue. Most likely, remote hearings will continue in appropriate cases. Against this background, the…

The long-awaited update to the e-Commerce Directive proposes new obligations for online platforms and changes to the ‘safe harbours’ from liability for infringing content. By Jean-Luc Juhan, Deborah J. Kirk, Elisabetta Righini, Thies Deike, Grace E. Erskine, Alain Traill, and Amy Smyth On 15 December 2020, the European Commission released a set of long-awaited proposals to create a safer and fairer digital space, including the Digital Services Act (DSA)…

In the 2021 edition of IFLR’s M&A Report, Latham & Watkins considers key developments likely to impact M&A in 2021, and how dealmaking is likely to progress in light of these developments. By Nick Cline, Robbie McLaren, Douglas Abernethy, Richard Butterwick, and Catherine Campbell If 2020 was the year that COVID-19 precipitated extraordinary government intervention and regulation of our lives, 2021 looks set to be the year that regulatory interventions in…

Despite certain regulatory and challenges, PE buyers will likely see more investment opportunities in the gaming industry. By Neil Campbell, Greg Roussel, Mike Turner, Adam Czernikiewicz, David Walker, Tom Evans, and Catherine Campbell The global gaming market reached a valuation of US$135.8 billion in 2020, accounting for a staggering 53.3% of the digital media industry. Further, global video game revenue in 2020 jumped by 20% to US$179.7 billion, making…

Dual class share structures could help lure Europe’s best founder-driven businesses to the London market, but challenges remain. By Sarah Axtell, Tad Freese, Chris Horton, Rick Kline, Anna Ngo, Koushik Prasad, David Walker, Tom Evans, and Catherine Campbell Listing of dual class share structures, which give certain owners (usually founders, employees, and pre-IPO investors) enhanced voting rights over other public shareholders, are increasingly common in the US…