Our knowledge resources reflect the breadth and depth of our expertise, our insight into the issues which matter to your business, and our understanding of the markets in which you operate.
In this briefing we bring you up to date with seven changes in law and practice which we think will have ramifications for the commercial real estate sectors. Parliament has been busy reviewing two key pieces of legislation implementing the Government's residential reform agenda.
The European Commission has published a Summary Report summarising the responses to its September 2023 consultations on the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR).
A regular briefing for the alternative asset management industry.
What happens where you're required to pay in a different currency from your own and exchange rate fluctuations mean that suddenly, the cost (in your own currency) has gone up considerably? We look at how the English courts have approached this issue and what you can do to protect yourself against this type of risk.
On 23 April 2024, the FCA published FG24/3, its finalised non-handbook guidance on the new "anti-greenwashing rule" which was introduced as part of the package of measures establishing the Sustainability Disclosure Requirements (SDR) regime (which we covered here). The guidance, like the rule itself, will apply from 31 May 2024 – in just over a month's time.
The Competition Appeal Tribunal has rejected an application by the class representative ("CR") in opt-out collective proceedings against Google, for an order requiring Google to disclose "known adverse documents". The Tribunal concluded that the order sought was insufficiently focused, and would impose an onerous burden on Google, given the complexities of the litigation, and the associated difficulty in establishing whether a document is adverse to Google's case.
Follow us on our Pensions LinkedIn page for more updates.
Continuation vehicles are typically structured as limited partnerships, with the investors (both rolling and new) constituting limited partners in the vehicle and the GP acting as manager of the vehicle. From a regulatory perspective, this continuation vehicle will typically fall within one of two regulatory categories: an alternative investment fund (“AIF”) or a non-AIF collective investment scheme (“CIS”).
The 2023/24 tax year has ended so now is the time to start thinking about your annual employee share plan reporting obligations. Annual returns for the last tax year must be filed online with HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) by 6 July 2024 and are due in respect of all the employee share plans or arrangements you had in place during that period, even if there has been no activity.
A regular briefing for the alternative asset management industry.
Follow us on our Pensions LinkedIn page for more updates.
The FCA has published a consultation paper (CP24/7) on Payment Optionality for Investment Research. This sets out the regulator's considered proposals in the light of one of the recommendations from the Independent Research Review (IRR) – i.e. that buy-side firms should have the option - once again - of being able to buy research on a bundled basis, subject to certain conditions.
Follow us on our Pensions LinkedIn page for more updates.
The CMA has issued its second piece of 'informal guidance' under the UK's Green Agreements Guidance, using the 'open door policy' by which the CMA can provide informal comfort that a specific environmental sustainability collaboration between competitors does not infringe competition law.
In recent years, there has been an increasing trend for claims to be brought in the English Courts on behalf of large groups of claimants seeking redress for environmental damage suffered in overseas jurisdictions. Although the English Courts have been reluctant to prevent such claims from proceeding on the basis of early procedural objections from defendants, their size and complexity have presented significant case management challenges (an issue we have previously addressed in this article).
On 5 February 2024, for the first time, the Competition Appeal Tribunal (the "CAT") decided on a "carriage dispute", between two competing proposed class representatives ("PCRs"), as a preliminary issue independent of certification.[1] The CAT made clear that unless there are special reasons why the carriage and certification issues should be heard together, deciding carriage disputes as a preliminary issue will be the preferred and automatic approach going forward. In its judgment, the CAT also provided helpful guidance on how such carriage disputes are to be determined in future cases.
In determining a negligence claim against a valuer for an alleged under-valuation of a residential development site, the High Court considered whether it was sufficient when considering the question of liability to focus on the end result of the valuation, rather than the valuer's process of arriving at his result – raising the question of whether a valuer must separately and additionally be shown to have fallen below the standard of a reasonably competent valuer (the Bolam test). In dismissing the claim, the Court gave careful consideration to the apparently conflicting cases applicable to determining valuers' liability and clarified the correct legal test to be applied in such cases.