European Union: Finance and Banking

Former Sheppard associate Sarah Ben-Moussa shares her journey from practicing M&A law in New York to building a renewable energy legal career in Paris. She discusses navigating the French visa system, the practical differences between U.S. and French legal practice, and the personal challenges of relocating abroad while leveraging American legal training in cross-border transactions.

Riżorsi Agrikoli Malta (“RAM”) has launched a pre-qualification process for the award of a major concession concerning the development and operation of a National Farm Waste Treatment Facility.

Private debt financing requires more than a strong project—it demands precise, credible documentation that answers fund analysts' critical questions upfront. This analysis examines how professional Information Memoranda, strategic fund identification, and transparent risk presentation determine whether well-conceived real estate, renewable energy, and growth ventures secure capital or lose their only opportunity to make a first impression.

Maltese family businesses often avoid public listings due to fears of losing control, but going public through the Malta Stock Exchange can strengthen governance, facilitate succession planning, and unlock capital without necessarily surrendering ownership. This analysis explores how reduced free-float requirements and strategic use of debt versus equity instruments can help family enterprises build lasting legacies while maintaining meaningful control.

Non-EU lenders face new regulatory requirements when financing Belgian corporate borrowers, but several key exemptions exist that may preserve current lending practices. Understanding these exceptions—from reverse solicitation to intra-group lending—is crucial for determining whether licensing obligations apply to cross-border lending operations.

Greek courts are increasingly ruling that real estate acquisitions at auction by REO companies affiliated with loan servicers constitute an unlawful circumvention of statutory prohibitions. Recent judgments from the Western Macedonia Court of Appeal and Athens Court of First Instance have found that these arrangements allow servicers to maintain economic control while formally separating legal entities, depriving debtors of fair settlement opportunities and enabling below-market acquisitions.

Syndicated financing allows borrowers to access capital beyond what a single lender can provide by distributing risk across multiple parties. In the Netherlands, a parallel debt mechanism addresses legal uncertainties around security interests, enabling a security agent to hold collateral on behalf of all lenders while maintaining clear enforcement rights.

Private equity execution has evolved beyond traditional buyout models, requiring sophisticated deal structures, flexible financing arrangements, and comprehensive due diligence across ESG, cybersecurity, and geopolitical risks. Success now depends on navigating complexity through adaptive strategies, cross-border expertise, and the ability to maintain momentum when conventional approaches no longer suffice.

In the Booking.com case, a court ruling is up for review by the Supreme Court for the second time.

Malta's financial services sector has evolved into a sophisticated ecosystem, but what truly distinguishes it from other jurisdictions? The Malta Financial Services Authority's strategic approach to regulation...

A proposed bill of law seeks to modernize Luxembourg's securitization framework by expanding financing options beyond traditional instruments, introducing cross-compartment investment mechanisms, and extending active portfolio management capabilities to include equity positions. The reforms aim to enhance legal certainty around asset ring-fencing in insolvency scenarios while aligning the regime with contemporary market practices, particularly for Islamic finance structures and multi-compartment vehicles.

Luxembourg is modernizing its securitisation framework through two key legislative reforms: the Draft Securitisation Bill and the Deferred Capital Law. These amendments expand financing options for securitisation vehicles, permit active management of broader asset classes in private transactions, and allow deferred payment of share capital for SARLs, potentially reducing incorporation timelines from months to days.