On January 27, 2017, President Trump signed an executive order (among others) titled: “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States” (the “Order”).  The Order purports to “suspend entry” of both “immigrant and nonimmigrant” individuals from the seven countries currently subject to visa waiver restrictions:  Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.1  The Order excludes some diplomatic and government visas, but applies to individuals with common employment-based visas, such as H-1B and L-1 visas, and even...

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Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce the sale of Body Plus Nutritional Products, Inc. (Body Plus) to Jamieson Laboratories Ltd. (Jamieson), a portfolio company of CCMP Capital Advisors, LP (CCMP). The transaction closed on January 31, 2017 Founded in 1984 and based in Toronto, ON, Canada, Body Plus is a dynamic nutritional company that delivers highly comprehensive, professional quality, on-trend natural health and active lifestyle supplements that appeal to a broad range of ingredient-conscious consumers. Body Plus is well known for its...

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A letter from Portolano Cavallo: Dear clients, friends and business partners, We recently strengthened our Life Sciences practice, hiring two senior professionals that will add significant experience and skills to Portolano Cavallo. Marco Blei will focus on Intellectual Property and Life Sciences IT matters, Elisa Stefanini on regulatory issues. Both professionals come from BonelliErede, where they were members of the "Healthcare and Life Sciences" Focus Team. In his fifteen-year IP, IT and Privacy experience, Marco has assisted  players in the pharmaceutical, and...

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On January 19, 2017, the Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) issued final, temporary, and proposed regulations (the “Regulations”) under section 871(m) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”). Code section 871(m) imposes withholding tax on U.S. source “dividend equivalent” payments made on certain derivative financial products, including notional principal contracts (“NPCs”), equity linked instruments (“ELIs”), and sales-repurchase agreements. The Regulations serve to both clarify and codify much of the official and regulatory guidance issued under...

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