The Baltic Business Law Conference is an annual event held by the leading pan-Baltic provider of legal services Raidla Lejins & Norcous. The Conference focuses on the most topical developments in the economies and business sectors in the Nordic/Baltic region. It is the sixth year of the conference and each year it is hosted by a different Raidla Lejins & Norcous jurisdiction.

This year the Baltic Business Law Conference Tomorrow’s Finance: a New Breath focuses on post-crisis financial markets. Experts from various fields will guide the discussion as to whether the developments have breathed new life into these markets. Insights will be offered into global finance developments and prospects, the future of the euro zone, alternative business financing methods, the public debt and private business borrowing indicators in the Baltic/Nordic region, the financing of green projects and other dimensions of the money and capital markets.

Together with the main partner of this event – global professional services company Ernst & Young – we will offer a unique opportunity to listen to the viewpoint of Dr Eamonn Walsh, a Consultant of International Monetary Fund and global corporations, on the global developments of financial markets. Dr Walsh will overview the lessons taught by the crisis and will address the questions how the balance of money and capital has redistributed on the global scale, how it will change in the future and where business should look for financing opportunities during the post-crisis period.

Professor Urmas Varblane from Tartu University of the neighbouring Estonia that has just stepped over the euro zone will share his insights on the euro. One of the most experienced finance experts of the Central and Eastern Europe, Managing Director of Cicero Capital Mr James Oates, will share a critical approach to the banking system managed by dominating financial institutions in the Baltic states. Mr Leonas Lingis, Partner of Ernst & Young Baltic, will disclose unexploited tax opportunities that can contribute to the enhancement of Lithuanian competitiveness.

Head of the Borrowing and Cash Management Division of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Lithuania Ms Irma Lazickienė will overview the borrowing trends in the Baltic region, while Dr Ramūnas Bičiulaitis, CFO of Danske Bank, will tell if there are still any funds for lending to businesses. All the truth about finance raising will be disclosed by Mr Alexander Kochetkov, President of aircraft leasing firm Gold'nsky Leasing Limited.

The Conference will also cover alternative business financing: the principles of mezzanine financing will be introduced by Mr Kalmer Kikas, Managing Director of Baltic Mezzanine OÜ, while other financing mechanisms will be explored by Mr Robert Kołeczek, Head of ECM & Syndication from WOOD & Company. The Emissions Trading System, which has found its niche in the Nordic countries and is still novice as a method of financing in the Baltics, will be introduced by Mr Kari Hämekoski, Manager of Nordic Environment Finance Corporation, and Ms Laura Dzelzytė, Adviser to the Minister of Environment of the Republic of Lithuania.

Since more and more companies seek to have their securities listed on stock exchanges, Partner of ELVI Investment Bank Mr Julijus Grigaliūnas will reveal the advantages of capital markets and the alternatives to listing existing on the stock exchanges of different jurisdictions. Dr Irmantas Norkus, Managing Partner of Raidla Lejins & Norcous, will provide a lawyer’s perspective whether rights and obligation of financing parties and borrowers are balanced and towards which direction such equilibrium tends to shift in the post-crisis period. The conference will be closed by a presentation of Mr Rolandas Barysas, the Editor-in-Chief of national business daily Verslo žinios on the ethics in financial markets.

The Conference Tomorrow’s Finance: A New Breath hosted by Law Offices Raidla Lejins & Norcous will take place on 26 May 2011 in the Theatre Hall of Vilnius University, Universiteto g. 3, Vilnius, Lithuania.