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US law firm Kirkpatrick & Lockhart and English firm Nicholson Graham & Jones have combined forces to become Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham (K&LNG). The change is effective from January 1, 2005.

The majority of north American CFOs think that, despite improved stock market performance, pension schemes are having a negative impact on corporate finances, according to a survey by SEI Investments. The survey shows that, during the year since they were last interviewed, CFOs have become even more frustrated by the burden of pension schemes. Of the 100 CFOs interviewed, 76% said pension schemes were proving detrimental to corporate finances, up from 61% a year ago.

CF brings you Dealogic's global DCM rankings for 2004.

Audit fees in 2004 rose 16% in 2004 to £274.4 million but audit still counts for less than half of the fees charged to FTSE100 clients according to a survey carried out by Financial Director magazine and professional services firm Resources Connection.

Harris Interactive, the US market research company, has appointed Frank Connolly as its new CFO. Connolly's career in corporate finance spans more than 20 years and he was most recently CFO at Modem Media, an interactive marketing services company. He replaces Bruce Newman who becomes executive vice president for finance. There will also soon be a new CFO at US healthcare company Radiologix. Michael Murdock will take up the role on February 1, replacing Richard Sabolik. Murdock spent 13 years at American Medical International (AMI), which then became American Medical Holdings (AMH). During his time there he was involved in the $3.4 billion leveraged buyout of AMI, the $250 million IPO of AMH, as well as the refinancing of $210 million of subordinated debt. He also played a key role in reducing AMH's debt by $1.8 billion over five years.

CF brings you Dealogic's global DCM rankings for 2004.

Almost half (47%) of FTSE350 chief financial officers (CFO) say that pension liabilities at companies they are considering buying or merging with represent major obstacles to successfully completing M&A deals, according to a new survey from Towers Perrin's HR Services business.

US financial technology company NYFIX has appointed Jay Shaffer as its new CFO. Shaffer's 34 year career includes posts at Chase Manhattan Bank and Citicorp. Most recently, he was managing director of Financial Management Advisory Services where he spent 16 years. Meanwhile Mike Brocklesby has become CFO of Soflow, the UK intelligent online business network. The 36 year old was previously CFO of online dating agency uDate.com and prior to that was assistant finance director at the Nottingham Post Group.

Research out today by KPMG's Corporate Finance practice, shows the UK's main Initial Public Offering (IPO) market made a solid recovery in 2004 with 17 trading company IPOs raising total funds of over £2,606 million. This compares to 8 trading company IPOs raising £2,431 million in 2003 (£1,226m of which was raised by Yell).

Love them or hate them, you can't ignore the power of league tables. Here's the 2004 update from mergermarket, the independent research house:

A rise in capital investment of up to 14% and a 12% boost to technology spend has been forecast at US corporates over the next year, according to the latest CFO Outlook Survey produced by Financial Executives International. This compares favourably with figures from the previous quarter, where CFOs predicted respective rises of 8% and 7%. The bullish outlook on capital and technology spend is in contrast to the majority of CFOs (56%) who are feeling the impact of rising producer prices from the last quarter. More than three quarters of those CFOs ? 77% - will pass on at least half or all of the increased costs to customers.

BP Finance has become the first European corporate to start using the Wall Street Systems Hedge Compliance Module to cope with the demands of IAS 39, the hedge accounting legislation that came into force on January 1 2005. As part of its hedging strategy, BP Finance uses derivatives to manage the FX exposure for non-functional currency forecast revenue and capital expenditure transactions.