KEY EVENTS THIS WEEK: ITALY President gives green-light to populist coalition government The political turmoil that has rocked Italy and the global financial markets appears to have come to an end after the Italian President Sergio Mattarella formally gave his seal of approval to the populist government coalition between the anti-establishment Five Star Movement and the far-right Northern League. The alliance’s chosen prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, presented his list of ministers to the President late last night which was accepted meaning that...

By Matthew J. Hamilton, Donna L. Fisher, Jessica K. Southwick | Pepper Hamilton  Litigants who proffer data obtained from social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram must authenticate that data before it will be admitted as evidence. Nearly all jurisdictions have a rule of evidence addressing authentication of exhibits and records, many of which mirror Rule 901(a) of the Federal Rules of Evidence. Courts have not agreed, however, on how to satisfy the requirements of Rule 901(a) for social media evidence. Recently, in Commonwealth v....

Royal DSM, a global science-based company active in health, nutrition and materials, today announces that it has successfully concluded a new €1 billion Revolving Credit Facility that links the interest rate of this Facility to DSM’s Green House Gas (GHG) emission reduction. The deal was concluded with a syndicate of 15 banks and replaces two existing Revolving Credit Facilities of in total €1 billion, maturing in 2018 and 2020. For DSM sustainability is a core value, a key responsibility and an...

  By Andrew C. Collins, Managing Partner |Bannockburn Global Forex, LLC   The Euro:   While most of us were grilling hot dogs and burgers or setting off fireworks or boating or sunning at the pool, global markets were open and active, and it was a pretty ugly (oxymoron intended) few days for the euro.  Political concerns in Italy (I’ll come back to this later) sent the euro sharply lower, extending and accelerating its recent losses.  EURUSD touched 1.1506 overnight, down from its Friday open...

The EACCNY, in partnership with the International Property Tax Institute (IPTI), wants to keep members up to date with the latest developments in property taxes both in the USA and Europe. IPTI has put together a selection of brief reports from articles contained in IPTI Xtracts which can be found on its website (www.ipti.org). As far as Europe is concerned, this month’s report includes articles on Greece, Ireland, Italy, Turkey and the United Kingdom. There is a separate IPTI report on...

Tradewind closed a 2 million GBP reverse factoring facility for a reputable UK-based fashion brand and retailer that sells menswear, womenswear, and accessories. Having office locations that intersect with the client’s suppliers in China, Turkey and Europe, Tradewind provides faster funding to the suppliers and the UK retailer also benefits from lower borrowing costs. As a result, Tradewind is instrumental in lowering the retailer’s operating costs and in better managing its sourcing needs. It provides financing for sales made...

By Sarah Smith Kuehnel (St Louis), Harrison C. Kuntz (St Louis), R. Lance Witcher (St Louis) | Ogletree Deakins We all know (or should know) that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and other discrimination laws prohibit intentional discrimination “because of” protected characteristics like race, age, gender, or disability. We can easily imagine instances of intentional discrimination—a sexist manager refusing to hire female applicants, a racist boss refusing to promote qualified African Americans, and the list goes on.  Many employers do...

The European Investment Bank (EIB) Group and CaixaBank have signed a new agreement to support the projects of innovative small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the process of going global. The new EUR 250m credit line will focus on providing financing for projects led by female entrepreneurs wishing to develop innovation-based investments. This agreement has enabled the European Investment Fund (EIF) – the EIB Group subsidiary specialising in support for micro-enterprises and SMEs – to grant a EUR 125 million guarantee to CaixaBank, which...