Many of you were among the 200 internationally-oriented dealmakers, investors and advisors who attended the March 18 Association for Corporate Growth international growth conference on the Chicago River near Lake Michigan. I had the honor of co-chairing the event, and it was a pleasure to sit back and watch our speakers and audience members engage and deliver the goods.

My own take on the overall message from our several panels of speakers: yes, capital markets in the coming months will present some major challenges, but expanding companies and dealmakers that are not relying on high levels of debt are likely to find a hedge against the US economy in growth markets elsewhere (as well as from non-US investors attracted by a weak dollar and more reasonable US valuations).

Our feedback has been strongly positive, fueled by an excellent keynote presentation by Robert Reich (his fine sense of humor was an unexpected touch, including on a personal level around the lunch table), a breakfast keynote moderated by Fortune Magazine's Global Editor, Stephanie Mehta, and our 5 panels of speakers.

The professional interests of many of you are an excellent fit for such a mid-market-focused international conference. My own interests are no exception - I am a partner with a cross-border law practice, InternationalCounsel, and our focus since our founding a dozen years ago has been on internationally-expanding mid-market companies.

A summary article on the conference will soon be published in the Mergers and Acquisitions Journal, featuring the International Deal Firm Expansion panel as moderated by a BusinessWeek editor and which included The Jordan Company, Brown Gibbons Lang, Conway MacKenzie and Calder Capital. When published, I will forward the article link to you.


Chess Set from India, Maryhill Museum of Art, Photo by Mary Harrsch

Prior to the ACG international conference, Rob Loewer, the General Counsel of a Chicago-area company, and I published a short update on acquisitions of Indian companies by US companies. Rob coordinated the conference's BRIC panel and served as its moderator, and he and I share experience with India and other markets.

The article was published in the February, 2008, ACG Cross-Border Transactions Bulletin, a copy of which was included in the conference binder - the first page follows below, and we posted the rest on our blog - click here (it is short!). The article is a follow-up to my February, 2007 update on foreign equity investment in Indian companies - from last February's edition of the Cross-Border Transactions Bulletin.

Just prior to the conference, I returned from Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi (with stops in Pune and Mysore), both to meet with US and Indian clients and to pursue additional India-US opportunities. In short, the country is evolving at least as quickly as China.

As further evidence of India's quick market liberalization pace for acquisitions and overall foreign investment - a point made in our India articles - the March 28 edition of India's The Economic Times reported that foreign investors in Indian real estate may soon be allowed expanded exit opportunities.

Though up to a 100% foreign equity interest is currently permitted in real estate as well as hotels and tourism, foreign investors are now subject to a three-year lock-in during which investors cannot sell their equity stake without the approval of India's Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB). Indian authorities have proposed a waiver of this three-year lock-in as well as the lifting of a minimum investment requirement of US$5 million for joint ventures or $10 million for wholly-owned ventures. (Get ready to pick-up your dream apartment overlooking the ocean on Marine Drive in Mumbai along with that land for your manufacturing facilities.)