Member News, News

Bill of law No. 6318 amending the Luxembourg law of 13 February 2007 on specialised investment funds has been adopted

On 6 March 2012, the Luxembourg Parliament passed bill of law No. 6318  (the “Law”) amending the Luxembourg law of 13 February 2007 on specialised investment funds. The Law foresees several important changes to the regime governing specialised investment funds or “SIFs”, one of Luxembourg’s most popular collective investment schemes among fund initiators and sophisticated investors, as evidenced by the almost 1,400 structures currently in existence. The SIF’s success is based on the product’s features which combine prudential supervision with...

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Some (13) Governments Embrace Voluntary Carbon Markets

By Steve Zwick; Published March 02, 2012 in Greenbiz.com. The United States has famously failed to develop a strategy for slowing and adapting to climate change, but that hasn't stopped the U.S. states of Oklahoma, California, and Oregon from creating frameworks to support greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions trading. All three are among more than 20 national and sub-national governmental agencies around the world that have incorporated voluntary climate-change solutions into their formal strategies -- creating in the process a means...

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Massive infrastructure investment needed to meet future demand, says OECD

Paris 05/March/2012 Governments must act today to ensure that the infrastructure needed in 2020-2030 will be planned, developed and operational in time, according to a new OECD report. Strategic Transport Infrastructure Needs to 2030 says that air passenger traffic could double, air freight could triple, and port handing of maritime containers worldwide could quadruple by 2030. But the report notes that most of the current gateway and corridor infrastructure could not handle even a 50% increase in demand. The OECD estimates USD...

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Serbia Becomes an EU Candidate Country

Brussels, 1 March 2012 Serbia is granted EU candidate status -- The European Council today agreed to grant Serbia the status of candidate country, following a recommendation by the General Affairs Council on 28 February. It endorsed the Council's conclusions, which confirmed that Serbia has continued to show credible commitment and achieved further progress in the implementation of agreements reached in the dialogue with Kosovo, including on integrated border management. The Council noted that an agreement has been reached on...

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EU Leaders Sign Fiscal Pact and Focus on Growth Measures

EU leaders in Brussels today signed a fiscal pact which commits the signatory countries to rein in public spending and run low levels of government debt. The Treaty on Stability, Coordination and Governance has governments pledging to keep their deficits down to less than 0.5 percent of their gross domestic product. It was signed by 25 countries of the European Union. "The restoration of confidence in the future of the Eurozone will lead to economic growth and jobs," said President of...

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Herman Van Rompuy re-elected president

EU heads of state or government today unanimously re-elected Herman Van Rompuy as president of the European Council for a second term of two and a half years, from 1 June 2012 to 30 November 2014. Herman Van Rompuy was also designated as president of the Euro Summit for the same term of office. He is the first full-time president of the European Council, following the creation of the post on 1 December 2009 under the Treaty of Lisbon. He has...

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Ireland: European Commission gives green light for €5.8 billion payment following successful completion of fifth review of financial assistance programme

Brussels, 1 March 2012 Today, the European Commission completed the fifth review of the EU-IMF supported financial assistance programme for Ireland. In this context, the Commission authorises the disbursement of €5.8 billion to the country, bringing total EU funding to Ireland to €32.2 billion since the launch of the programme in late 2010. The joint review by the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund took place in Dublin 10-19 January 2012. It concluded that programme implementation...

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Economic sentiment increases in both the EU and the euro area

Brussels, 28 February 2012 In February, the Economic Sentiment Indicator (ESI) rose for the second month in a row in both the EU and the euro area. The ESI rose by 1.1 points in the EU and by 1.0 point in the euro area, to 93.9 and 94.4, respectively. The improvement was broad-based across all sectors except for services, where a decrease in confidence partly offset the rebound observed in January. Among the largest Member States Poland (+1.7) reported the...

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Transatlantic Tweets: EU Ambassador Vale de Almeida Joins Twitter

Ambassador João Vale de Almeida, Head of the European Union Delegation to the United States, will be sharing his insights in 140 characters or less with the launch of his official Twitter account. Follow @ValedeAlmeidaEU to interact with the Ambassador and get his comments on the European Union and the EU-US relationship. "Social media has become a powerful tool in public diplomacy," said Ambassador Vale de Almeida. "I look forward to using Twitter as another way to reach out to the...

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Member News

Houlihan Lokey’s 2011 Accomplishments

Houlihan Lokey earned several distinctions in their core businesses of corporate finance, financial advisory and financial restructuring, including: • No. 1 M&A Advisor for U.S. Transactions Under $1 Billion* • No. 1 Global M&A Fairness Opinion Advisor Over the Past 10 Years* • No. 1 Global Investment Banking Restructuring Advisor* • No. 1 Advisor to Private Equity Firms Over the Past 10 Years—PitchBook • Most Innovative Investment Bank for Restructuring—The Banker • Valuation Firm of the Year—M&A Advisor’s International Awards the firm looks forward to a...

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