For many businesses, the impact of the Enron affair is now starting to have some real bite, especially for any business that is related to a company registered with the US Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC").

• Buying a "listing status" ("the shell") from the provisional liquidators
  and/or the liquidators of a listed company — How does it work?
  Provisional liquidators and/or liquidators who deal with the restructuring or liquidation of listed companies in financial difficulties are very often involved in selling the listing status, a process which is known to many as the sale of the "shell".

• Equity ownership by family members
  In looking at different aspects of family businesses in previous articles the topic of share ownership has come up in various ways. At first glance it may seem that there is no issue here — "leave the shares to the children" is the obvious way to go. Of course in real life it is not that simple.

• Management buyouts: Turning fiction into fact in Asia
  A Management Buyout is typically a levered (debt laden) acquisition in which the management team of a company, subsidiary or division acquires the operations from the company's parent or owner.

• Acquisition of domestic enterprises in China
  Since its entry into the World Trade Organisation in 2001, China has attracted many foreign investors to divert their investment funds toward this rapidly-growing economy which is full of business opportunities.

• A change in the rate of Hong Kong taxation of royalties...
  ...paid for the use of intellectual property in Hong Kong was announced in the 2003/04 Budget by the Financial Secretary

More to know...
• Opening of bank accounts
• International Business Owners Survey 2003
• Summer holiday competition


Stephen Weatherseed,
Grant Thornton Partner,
writes on Sarbanes-Oxley —
in plain English in this issue.