Monday, December 23, 2013 -- This is the second in Pepper’s series of client alerts dealing with specific effects of the ‘Volcker Rule’ on various market segments. On December 10, 2013, after more than three years of intensive development, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (FRB), Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) adopted final regulations implementing the...

1.       Introduction Crowdfunding is an innovative instrument to finance projects by using on-line portals as an alternative to traditional forms of financing. The public can support projects with a social purpose, as well as new entrepreneurial initiatives, by paying their contributions through on-line portals which usually operate as platforms for donation-based or social lending, or through reward based crowdfunding, depending on whether the contribution is made as a donation or loan between private individuals, or whether a reward is provided...

The last quarter of 2013 saw a substantial M&A activity in the luxury and premium branded goods industry. According to the news circulating in the sector, many multinational brands as well as smaller brands are seeking for strategic financial partners that may help the brand to expand and support their business in the globalization era. This interest of luxury companies in the collection of investment made by financial partners are aimed at collecting funds that may assist them in complex...

The Netherlands offers a solid combination of a stable economy, a reliable tax regime and a sophisticated, internationally oriented infrastructure. In addition, the Dutch economy is noted for its stable industrial relations and plays an important role as a European transportation hub. The Dutch government strongly supports that the legal and economic environment remains attractive for multinational companies to locate their (regional) headquarters in the Netherlands. On 30 August 2013, the Dutch minister of Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation and...

One of the stories heralding the comeback of the CMBS market in the fall of 2012 surrounded the first CMBS loan to be written on a Detroit office building in five years. The loan was the $26.6 million One Kennedy Square note. The Wall Street Journal's Maura Webber Sadovi had written an article on the loan at the time. A new story from the WSJ on Wednesday revived our interest in the note. Yesterday's article was regarding the increase in office property sales in the...

The global cost of corruption is estimated at US$ 1 trillion by the World Bank Institute. The audience at the 6th In-house Counsel Monitor event Monday 2 December in Amsterdam was given an opening wake-up call by Jermyn Brooks, Board Member and Chair, Business Advisory Board of Transparency International. This is an enormous amount of money hampering fair competition and in the end mostly burdening low income earners and small businesses. After an initial period with a few landmark cases,...

‘You Know It When You See It’ – Or Do You? This is first in Pepper’s series of Client Alerts dealing with specific effects of the ‘Volcker Rule’ on various market segments. On December 10, 2013, after more than three years of intensive development, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (FRB), Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) adopted...

Trading Alert: NYC Hotel Modified, Backs 2007 Deal Barclays reported late on Thursday that the $46.6 million Crowne Plaza - LaGuardia loan has been modified. (Kudos to the Barclays research team for unearthing the bankruptcy court documents that contained the details.) The 358 room hotel located near LaGuardia airport was built in 1986 and renovated in 2005. The loan was originally slated to mature in March 2017, but the date has been pushed out to November 2023. The loan was also originally locked out...