M&A in Emerging Countries – Tax Risks and Opportunities

The Importance of Taxes in M&A Processes Companies are focusing more and more on the tax aspects of M&A. This focus is partly because tax authorities are scrutinizing transactions more closely than ever before. But this increase concentration is also

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IFC: Banking On Women – Changing the Face of the Global Economy

Women entrepreneurs are changing the face of the global economy, helping to sustain job creation and economic growth. While investors are increasingly looking to the BRICs and beyond for growth opportunities, the fact is that women represent the largest emerging

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Panama – A Tax Friendly Environment for Foreign Investors

By Luis E. Ocando Bustamante, International Tax Partner of Ernst & Young, Panama, Central America, and Dominican Republic. The economic boom of Panama [1] has been accompanied by changes in its tax system, making Panama more attractive for foreign investors, especially for multinational

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Fruitful Relationships: Clearing and Settlement in Brazil

By Flavio Peppe As Brazil’s economy has grown so has its financial markets. The volume of equities traded on the main market, BM&F BOVESPA, has increased five-fold over the past five years, and the exchange’s derivatives platform was the world’s

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Frugality, Education, Infrastructure and Attitude Change is Needed in the West: We Should Not Rely on Keynesian Nostrums to Pull Us Through

By Jon Moynihan The West’s economic dilemma will not be solved until those countries have not just restructured their balance sheets, by significantly lowering expenditure, but have also significantly changed the mix of that expenditure. In the UK and the

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New ‘Pacific Alliance’ Upbeat and Seeking Competitive Advantages

Leaders of Pacific Alliance: Ollanta Humala, President of Peru; Juan Manuel Santos, President of Colombia; Sebastián Piñera, President of Chile; Felipe Calderón, President of Mexico.   The new bloc’s integration opens up significant opportunities for incremental economic development through increased

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Baker & McKenzie: Kazakhstani International and Domestic Securities Offerings

By Edward A. Bibko With its large natural resources and relatively transparent legal regime, Kazakhstan has long been a destination for international companies. In addition, its domestic companies have been attracting international capital for years.  Within the CIS, the country has

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UN Economic Commission for Africa: Domestic Resource Mobilization in Africa

By Emmanuel Nnadozie, Chief Economist and Director, Economic Development and NEPAD Division (UN Economic Commission for Africa) A major challenge facing African countries is how to mobilize adequate, stable and predictable domestic resources to finance priority programmes and projects of

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Kuala Lumpur: ‘The Next Big Thing’ in Asia-Pacific Business Circles

It is Asia’s best-kept secret: business insiders are shunning the cost and congestion of Asia’s mega-cities and plumping for Kuala Lumpur’s strengths: cost competitiveness, profit potential and a first-rate lifestyle – a combination unmatched anywhere else in Asia. InvestKL CEO

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World Bank Group’s PREM: Harnessing Trade Opportunities for Growth and Development

The pace of global trade integration over the past two decades has been extraordinary. Trade has been a key driver of global growth, convergence, and poverty reduction. During 1983–2010, global trade grew twice as fast as gross domestic product (GDP).

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