In this month's interview, we speak with Nicholas Avery, Consulting Editor of Public-Private Partnerhips, Second Edition, about the recent developments in PPP, the effect of the election on PPP and concerns regarding public debt.

25 Aug 2010 - Public-Private Partnerships
Q1 – It has been nearly four years since publication of the first edition.  What would you say have been the major changes in public-private partnerships (PPP) since then? A1 – As we went to press with the first edition, PPP remained very much in full swing and the move towards standardisation of documentation, in the United Kingdom at least, was very much in the ascendancy.  That insistence on adherence to precedent undoubtedly was saving costs in many deals and creating a model that could be and was exported to other jurisdictions eager to take a shortcut in getting to acceptable risk positions.  Across Europe, the PPP model was developing and deepening.  There were some signs of resistance to  ... View full interview

02 Jun 2010 - Joint Operating Agreements
What exactly is a JOA and why is it so essential to oil and gas projects? Modern upstream energy projects are characterised by the huge levels of investment required - many tens of millions of dollars are the basic table stakes, and with the costs of drilling a single well sometimes rising to a $100 million, this is very much a rich man's game. These projects are also fraught with all sorts of regulatory, commercial and practical uncertainties. This unique combination of expense and risk means that energy project participants often share the burden by forming some form of joint venture. The joint operating agreement (JOA) is the constitution for that joint venture; given the size of the investment that is required, the JOA is  ... View full interview

03 Mar 2010 - World trade law
Q: What is world trade law in essence? In essence, world trade law involves the examination of trading relationships between countries.  The international principle of free trade requires international laws and rules that facilitate and liberalize trade in the global context. Q: International trade laws seem to be very complex. How can I tell where a world trade law solution might be applicable in my practice? In actuality, international trade law situations are not overly complicated. As a practitioner, when a client presents you with a scenario that involves jurisdictional issues and economic activities, you should at least briefly examine the possibility that international trade law might be involved at some level. View full interview

07 Jan 2010 - Best practice in international public procurement
- From reading the introduction to your book, you seem to be passionate about public procurement. What is it about the field that attracts you? I have practiced in this area of law for more than 15 years, and every day I find new challenges.  I am always fascinated by the conflict between private and public interests and how the actors involved -governments as much as contractors and suppliers - have to achieve their goals and find new ways to improve the systems available to them.  Every day, clients present different problems to solve and new aspects to consider. - What do you think the main impact of the financial crisis has been on government procurement? In many countries, the financial crisis has led to  ... View full interview

07 Dec 2009 - The global financial crisis
It is over a year now since the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers.  Why do you think Lehman Brothers was allowed to fail and what do you think was the impact of its collapse on the wider economy? It is hard to say why Lehman Brothers was allowed to fail by the US Treasury and Federal Reserve.  After all, both government agencies had a long track record of bailing out financial institutions in distress, including: • the 1984 bailout of Continental Illinois National Bank after the Penn Square lending excesses; • the 1995 bailout of Wall Street investors in Mexican government securities following the peso devaluation of December 1994; • the 1998 bailout of Long Term Capital Management and  ... View full interview

13 Nov 2009 - Business Families and Family Businesses
Why are business families important?   Family businesses are an essential part of the backbone of the UK economy.  They produce more than 30% of the national gross domestic product and account for more than 40% of private sector employment, which equates to 9.5 million jobs.  Sixty five percent of the 4.5 million private sector enterprises in the United Kingdom last year contributed £73 billion in taxes - 15% of the total tax revenue.  Finally, family firms have a turnover of more than £1 trillion - over double that of the private equity sector - and employ more people than all the FTSE companies combined.   But it is also about more than just the numbers. Family businesses traditionally  ... View full interview

12 Oct 2009 - Islamic Finance
What is sukuk? One of the most striking features of the recent growth in Islamic finance has been the development of the market for issuance of sukuk. This is the Shariah product used to access the capital markets and is generally, if erroneously, referred to as the 'Islamic bond'. Strictly speaking, a sukuk is not a debt product at all.  Rather, a sukuk is a certificate which represents a proportional beneficial ownership in the asset underlying an Islamic finance transaction and gives the sukuk holder a right to receive a pro rata portion of the income stream of the underlying transaction.    Another way of looking at it is to see the sukuk as a capital markets overlay to an underlying Islamic  ... View full interview

14 Jul 2009 - Derivatives: The Practitioner's View
It has been popular to blame derivatives for being a driver of the current financial crisis. What has in fact been their role?   Derivatives remain integral to the world financial system, and indeed almost 95 per cent. of the world's largest companies continue to use derivatives (even some of Warren Buffet's companies).  At the end of 2008, the notional amount of CDS contracts was $38 trillion; of equity derivatives $8.7 trillion; and of interest rate derivatives $403.1 trillion.  The derivatives which caused problems though, were actually (by notional amount) a tiny part of the overall market; for example  - credit default swaps referencing toxic mortgage backed securities did  ... View full interview