More Equity Bubble than Bubble Gum in New York

Arriving in New York immediately after the stratospheric success of the public listing of LinkedIn Corp when the stock doubled in price on the first day’s trading, the temptation was to ask whether investors’ memories really are so short that the dot.com bust of 2001 has already become pre-history. A near repeat initial performance only days later in the Pandora Radio IPO made cynical observers recall the old cliché about boxes and their contents. Fortunately common sense prevailed and Pandora ended its first day up by only 9%.

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The BTG GN family meet in Cyprus

Despite the efforts of yet another Icelandic volcano to ruin the party for a second successive year, over thirty of our network friends from 16 different countries came together in Cyprus at the end of May to renew old friendships and make new ones.

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BTG GN In Cyprus

The BTG Global Network Conference has finished for the day.  Please see below for photographs.

08.15
Registration and coffee

09.00
Welcome & Opening Remarks
Nick Hood – Chairman, BTG Global Network (United Kingdom)

09.15
Update on Cyprus Insolvency Matters
Marios Kallias – Partner, Kallias & Associates (Cyprus)

09.30
Marine Crisis Management
Liam Morrissey – Partner, BTG Global Risk Partners (United Kingdom)
Simon Fordham – Partner, BTG Global Risk Partners (United Kingdom)

10.00
Changes to the German Insolvency System
Martin Prager – Partner, Pluta (Germany)

10.15
Egypt & MENA
Waleed Hilal – Partner, Hilal & Partners (Vision Consulting Group) (Egypt)

10.30
Nigeria, Restructuring & Insolvency Services
Tunde Ajayi – Partner, Babington Ashaye & Co (Nigeria)

10.45
Networking Coffee Break

11.15
Evolution of Polish Insolvency Law in Era of the Global Financial Crisis
Pawel Kuglarz – Partner, Beiten Burkhardt (Poland)

11.45
Israel, Local Aspects of International Insolvencies
Ofer Shapira – Partner, Shapira & Co (Israel)

12.30
Lunch – Served in Kalypso Restaurant

13.30
Eastern European Real Estate Panel
Peter Walker – Partner, Begbies Traynor Group (United Kingdom)
Laslo Csia – Managing Director, Csabaholding Kft (Hungary)
Zoltán Tenk – Partner, Noerr & Partner (Hungary)

14.00
Malta
Joseph Gauci – Managing Partner, KSI Malta (Malta)

14.15
Hospitality Industry Sector Overview
Andries de Vaal – Partner, Salon Consulting (United Kingdom)

14.45
Indian Restructuring Case Studies
Ambarish Chattergee – Director, Integrated Capital Services (India)
Sandeep Gupta – Senior Advisor, Integrated Capital Services (India)
Rajiv Jaiswal – Consultant. Integrated Capital Services (India)

15.15
Networking Tea Break

15.45
Sovereign Debt Issues
Nick Hood –  Chairman, BTG Global Network (United Kingdom)
George Bazinas – Partner, Bazinas Law Firm (Greece)
Alessandro Scarso – Partner,  Pluta (Italy)

16.45
Future Developments in the Network and Closing Remarks
Nick Hood – Chairman, BTG Global Network (United Kingdom)

17.00
Conference Ends

Foreign Policy Aggression Blooms in Paris Spring

Paris Nord station was its usual mid morning bustle and chaos, but the sight of what looked for all the world like riot police directing the taxi queue was quite a shock until the realisation dawned that these were in fact a new breed of touts, offering to whisk Eurostar travellers through the traffic on the back of a motor bike.

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BTG GN Meeting – Cyprus (26-28 May 2011)

The next BTG GN World Meeting has been scheduled for Thursday 26 – Saturday 28 May 2011.

The conference will be taking place at the Amathus Beach Hotel in Limassol, Cyprus and the format will follow the previous conferences;

Thursday 26 – Evening
19.00 – Drinks and Dinner at Amathus Beach Hotel

Friday 27
09.00 – 17.00 – Full day conference. Topics include;

Changes to German Insolvency System
Egypt & MENA
Eastern European Real Estate Panel
Marine Crisis Management
International Tax Issues

Plus speakers from
Cyprus
India
Israel
Malta
and Offshore

Evening entertainment and dinner at a local restaurant

Saturday 28
10.30 – 14.30 – Lunch aboard a luxury yacht and a cruise along Larnaca bay

If you would like to attend, please email Jo.hancock@btg-globalnetwork, for further information.

INSOL Singapore 2011

Singapore was the location for this year’s annual conference of INSOL International, held between the 13th and 15th March 2011 and attracting a record attendance of nearly 600 delegates from all over the world. BTG Global Network was proud to be one of the four Main Sponsors, as was network member, BMC Group and also our Australian associates, PPB Advisory. It must be unique for one professional network to take three of the four main sponsorship positions at such a prestigious event, reflecting our very strong influence on thought leadership within the international insolvency and restructuring profession.

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Singapore – a Calm Oasis amid Japan’s Tragic Crisis

Few business trips can have been quite as surreal as the past few days in Singapore, not so far away from the unfolding and ever-worsening events in Japan. Save for CNN and BBC World’s rolling coverage and some intense print media material in The Straits Times, it seemed almost as though the drama might be happening on another planet.

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Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON)

Seyi Akinwunmi of Akinwunmi & Busari, our network member from Nigeria, has brought to our attention an advert placed by Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), who are looking to compile a register of eligible service providers.

AMCON established as a resolution vehicle for the non-performing loans (NPL) in the Nigerian banking system, intends to engage the services of specialist firms with expertise in the following areas;

Property & Asset Valuation
Estate Agency
Accountancy
Asset Management
Business Advisory Services
Debt Recovery
Legal Services

Please see the attachment below for more information or contact Seyi directly.

AMCON Advert

Date of Publication is Tuesday 15 March 2011

Nick Hood Quoted in the Sunday Express Newspaper

Nick Hood was quoted in the Sunday Express newspaper on 6 March 2011 speaking about the Leisure Industry in the UK, which saw 466 companies run into potentially life-threatening financial problems in the three months to the end of February 2011 according to Begbies Traynor Red Flag Alert statistics –

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Hungary – Enduring a Savage Financial Hangover

The acres of demolition rubble surrounding the faded glories of the Ferencváros football stadium on the outskirts of Budapest speak volumes for the state of the Hungarian economy.  This stalled reconstruction project is one of dozens pointed out by the driver en route into town, all of them abandoned for lack of cash.

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