The Egg-Graben Bridge in the Grossarl Valley (Salzburg) was designed and planned at the Vienna University of Technology. FIB, the international umbrella organization for concrete construction, recently named the Egg-Graben Bridge as one of only two bridges worldwide to receive the “fib Award for Outstanding Structures”. The prize will be bestowed in 2014 at the fib conference to be held in Mumbai, India. The award is only given every four years. This time around Austria will be given the “Concrete...

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On 17 December 2013, the Irish Minister for Finance published the General Scheme of the Irish Collective Asset-management Vehicle (ICAV) Bill which will allow for a new corporate structure to be used within the Irish fund industry, sitting alongside the existing public limited company (“PLC”) structure. This new structure, which will provide a greater choice for fund sponsors, will be known as the Irish Collective Asset-management Vehicle or “ICAV”. Although subject to change during the legislative process, the General...

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According to fresh January remittance data, the $35.5 million Great Northern Mall loan is now with the special servicer. Great Northern Mall is a four building, 900,000 square-foot enclosed mall in Clay, New York, a suburb of Syracuse. Due to mature last month, the loan accounts for 18.8% of the collateral balance in BSCMS 2004-PWR3. Two of the four buildings, totaling 504,743 square feet, serve as collateral for the loan. Dick's Sporting Goods, Regal Cinemas, and The Shoe Department are listed as the top three...

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Granito Ltd., a EACCNY member, becomes a player in the on-line dispute resolution platform now appearing in various legal initiatives being taken at EU and national levels. Commercial and consumer on-line dispute resolution represents a "new tool" to address global needs and solve the uncertainty that cross-border parties of e-commerce transactions have. GRANITO builds on their long-time participation in on-line dispute resolution processes utilized across the United States by various regulatory bodies in the financial arena. GRANITO is pleased to welcome corporations...

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EACCNY member DS-Concept Factoring, Inc., a global commercial finance company specializing in international non-recourse factoring, has provided a $10 million export accounts receivable facility to a vertically integrated garment manufacturer. The client, headquartered in India, has global sales in excess of $100MM and is one of the country’s largest manufacturers of branded apparel. “We are extraordinarily pleased and honored to have such a reputable client of this magnitude join our portfolio.” states Brandyn Prust, Vice President of Sales. “The company’s local banking facilities weren’t sufficient enough to facilitate their...

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On January 2, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) published its annual regulatory and examination priorities letter. The letter identifies and sets forth how FINRA intends to address significant risks and issues that could adversely affect investors and market integrity in 2014. FINRA addresses four categories of priorities in its letter, and a number of sub-issues in each category: (1) Business Conduct Priorities, (2) Fraud Priorities, (3) Financial and Operational Priorities, and (4) Market Regulation Priorities. This client alert summarizes...

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The Trepp CMBS delinquency rate continued to drop in December, with a rate decrease of 23 basis points. December marks the seventh straight month of improvement in the rate. The delinquency rate for US commercial real estate loans in CMBS is now 7.43%. The delinquency rate ended the year 228 basis points better than where it was at the end of 2012. Since reaching a peak level of 10.34% in 2012, the Trepp delinquency rate has dropped 291 basis points....

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December liquidation volume and loss severity stayed fairly close to November’s levels, which were a rebound from two months of below average activity. Liquidation volume registered $1.28 billion in December, up slightly from $1.21 billion in November and in line with the 12-month moving average of $1.18 billion. Of the loans liquidated, 90% fell into the greater than 2% loss severity category. December loss severity came in at 50.36%, up from November’s 48.10% and considerably higher than October's 38.58%. The...

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On 18 December 2013, the Irish Funds Industry Association (the “IFIA”) released Investment Funds Sectoral Guidelines on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purpose of money laundering and terrorist financing (the “Sectoral Guidelines”). The release of the Sectoral Guidelines follows extensive engagement between the IFIA and the Central Bank of Ireland (the “Central Bank”) in order to develop a standard that the Central Bank can use in determining that an investment fund has adequate measures...

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With recent changes in international tax planning and the need to look further afield when deciding the most suitable jurisdiction for structuring purposes, the UK has positioned itself as an important centre to consider. In addition to having a good international reputation, political stability and being a member of the EU, the UK can offer the following potential advantages: • A wide tax treaty network - over 100 double taxation treaties. • The tax treaty network enables dividends from many countries...

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