Clifford Chance

Richard Day, Folko de Vries, Elizabeth Hundt Russell, Drew Rundus, Katherine Sinclair, Andrew Young

Activity levels in the syndicated loan and high yield bond markets, for debt finance in the private equity sector, have fallen significantly since February 2022. Our panel of international leveraged finance specialists explored the drivers of that market dislocation, including the extent to which private credit has filled the gap, and made their predictions for Q4 and into 2023.

View a recording of the session 'Leveraged acquisition finance – what happened, and what’s next?'

Lily Marcel, Paul Ellison, Maren Stadler-Tjan

The Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation and Taxonomy Regulatory Technical Standards will come into effect on 1 January 2023. We discussed what European and international managers need to do to comply, with a specific focus on the Luxembourg CSSF’s processes.

View a recording of the session 'SFDR and Taxonomy – the final countdown'

Kelly Labritz, Tom Lin, Oliver Marcuse, Sonya Pauls, Vishal Mashru

In this session we took a global view on the next stage in the evolution of sponsor-led secondaries transactions for investment funds. We also provided a brief overview of the types of transactions we are seeing in this sector, and then explored: the market perception (and industry concerns) highlighted in recent press coverage; the increasing involvement of regulators; the latest market themes and trends; and what may lie ahead for those participating in this market.

View a recording of the session 'GP-led secondaries – the next chapter'

Caroline Dawson, Kikun Alo, Yolanda Ghita-Blujdescu, Hélène Kouyaté or Laura-Isabell Dietz

This session focused on the current status of sustainable finance regulations applicable to banks and investment firms in continental Europe and the UK, and looked at the near future, including upcoming sustainability driven product governance rules under MiFID, requirements for enhanced due diligence, non-financial disclosures and prudential requirements.

View a recording of the session 'Sustainable finance regulations – getting closer to the finish'

Caroline Dawson, Frédérick Lacroix, Paul Lenihan and Phillip Souta

The UK government and regulators have announced potentially wide-ranging reforms to UK financial services regulation, with the Financial Services and Markets Bill forming a key part of these reforms. We took a closer look at the likely changes, when these are expected to happen, areas of difference between the UK and EU and what firms need to do to prepare.

View a recording of the session 'Where next for UK regulation – evolution or revolution?'

Greg Olsen, Caroline Dawson, Dave Poddar

We explored the steps that banks can take to stay ahead of antitrust risks when collaborating with competitors in primary and secondary markets, for example, when selling down a take-out bond issuance, participating in syndicated lending, managing the stick in a rights issue and enforcing share security for margin loans. The webinar included observations on the failed criminal prosecutions in the Australian ANZ case and its wider implications for competitor co-operation in financial markets.

View a recording of the session 'Antitrust issues in bank primary and secondary market coordination'

Chris Grey, Renée Latour, Andrea Andolina, Holly Bauer, Alex Walker, Aniko Adam

The semiconductor supply chain has seen a turbulent few years, from the global chip shortage to blocked and aborted deals. The future of this critical industry will be shaped by M&A and strategic partnerships, public subsidies, foreign investment control, antitrust and intellectual property law.

In this webinar we will explore how the semiconductor sector and its many downstream industries are responding to the changing legal and regulatory environment.

View a recording of the session 'How M&A and regulations are reshaping global semiconductor supply'

Belinda Ellington (Citi), Paget Dare Bryan, Caroline Dawson, Nigel Howorth

Carbon credits are increasingly playing a significant part in decarbonisation strategies for governments and companies, but there are still unanswered questions around their legal characterisation and regulatory status. We will look at recent developments in the voluntary carbon markets, the ongoing initiatives to promote trading activity and confidence using derivatives and structured products, and some of the key issues for regulated firms trading these products.

View a recording of the session 'The future of carbon credits – we’ll always have Paris'

Clare Burgess, Nigel Howorth, Greg Jehle, Roger Leese, Olamide Oladosu

This webinar was scheduled the week before the 27th Conference of the Parties in Sharm el-Sheikh, which took place amidst significant geopolitical turmoil. Our expert panel discussed energy transition, carbon trading, finance, international sovereign debt and a look at Africa and the US, and will contextualise what’s on the agenda.

View a recording of the session 'Looking ahead to COP27'

Adam Gilmour (Gilmour Space Technologies), Deepika Jeyakodi (Space Lawyer and Senior Commercial Contracts Officer), Joshua Berman, Julia Dreosti, David Ho, Alexander Kennedy

Space Tech is not just about futuristic colonies on Mars and asteroid-mining, it is also about the constellations of satellites that are already supporting so much of the tech here on earth, including ESG applications such as environmental monitoring. It is also critical infrastructure for the defence sector. Our panellists discussed opportunities in the sector, New Space, financing considerations and the future direction of the industry.

View a recording of the session 'Space Tech – a universe of ‘here and now’ investment opportunities'

Diego Ballon Ossio, Marc Benzler, Jack Hardman, Lena Ng, Monica Sah

In this session we considered some use cases for Central Bank Digital Currencies and how they may impact the financial markets particularly when combined with digital assets. This session also provided practical insights for in-house lawyers on novel legal issues that arise from CBDCs and how the role of custodian of digital assets may be evolving.

View a recording of the session 'The future of banking – can CBDCs and custody of digital assets change the financial markets?'

Kate Gibbons, Naomi Griffin, Dominique Laymand, Roger Leese, Angela McEwan, Michelle Williams

As ESG increasingly becomes a legal issue, the role of the in-house legal team in ESG is growing fast. In this session, our panellists considered the challenges ahead and emerging best practice.

View a recording of the session 'ESG – the role of the in-house lawyer'

Zayed Al Jamil, Caroline Dawson, Ling Ho, Devika Kornbacher, Dessislava Savova, Kate Scott

Our experts examined recent legal developments in a number of jurisdictions, considered key issues affecting the successful deployment and management of AI and machine learning, looked ahead to expected changes to relevant regulatory regimes and discussed what businesses can do to prepare.

View a recording of the session 'Managing AI in an evolving legal landscape'

Roger Leese, Ouns Lemseffer, Alex Leff, Angela McEwan, Kirsty Souter, Deborah Zandstra

Following on from our COP27 preview session, this webinar took place shortly following the end of the negotiations in Sharm el-Sheikh. Our experts attempted to make sense of proceedings and gave their thoughts on the implications for businesses.

View a recording of the session 'What happened at COP27?'

Guy Norman (Clifford Chance), Richard Price (Anglo American), Tom Saunders (RSGI), Elena Servini (Admiral Group)

The role of the in-house legal team is fast evolving and becoming ever more driven by the relationships it has both inside and outside its organisation. In our recent thought leadership report, we spoke with leaders of legal functions across some of the world’s biggest organisations. This session explored those relationships, how critical they are to success, how the legal team will operate and how it will evolve in the future.

View a recording of the session 'The future of the in-house legal team – building stronger relationships'

Stefanie Ferring, Philip Hertz, Tim Lees, Ilse van Gasteren, Cristina Weidner

A review of the markets across Europe and an update on the tools available for private equity houses, companies, financial institutions and funds for navigating into calmer waters.

View a recording of the session 'Restructuring and insolvency – is winter coming (again)?'