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The market has been slightly coming back to the Isle of Man due to an increasing number of M&A and capital markets mandates, which give a sign indicating investor confidence and their willingness of growing their businesses. "We see slight changes now in the capital markets, and we've seen some growth, but it's mainly from equity side," says one financial and corporate partner....

The market has been slightly coming back to the Isle of Man due to an increasing number of M&A and capital markets mandates, which give a sign indicating investor confidence and their willingness of growing their businesses. "We see slight changes now in the capital markets, and we've seen some growth, but it's mainly from equity side," says one financial and corporate partner. "M&A is also active. From the beginning of the year, the trend is starting to increase."

One talking point within the island is the aircraft registry, which attracts hundreds of investors registering their private jets each year. "The registry activities have been active for two years, and in the past 12 months, there's an increasing trend in this area," says one practitioner. It is believed that so far more than 350 investors from the Middle East, Eastern Europe and the United States have already registered their jets on the island mainly due to "cost effective" and "more privacy protection" advantages compared to other similar jurisdictions.

And now the island is also beginning to expand its registry business into emerging markets by holding talks in Shanghai and Beijing as well as other Far East countries, with a hope to increase the number of Asian investors registering in the Isle of Man. "There's a lot of interest but we're waiting to see if that interest generates into actual people putting their jets there," says one practitioner.

Registration of ships similarly is another active area and with the registry open 24 hours a day, it provides a convenient service to mariners.

In recent years the island has also become known for its high-tech industry related to the space sector, with some even dubbing it 'Space Isle'. However legal work has not in fact grown in line with the industry's development. "There's very little work around with space industry, because the work is done by the satellite companies themselves," says one partner. "They're here, they've their own businesses, and not necessarily want legal advice all the time, so it's not so easy to advise them." While another one adds: "We haven't actually seen whether there's actual work coming through. It doesn't get reported and it's all confidential. So you wouldn't know."

Another increasing trend worth mentioning is the e-gaming industry; it is a sector that "the Isle of Man government has been investing heavily" in so far according to one practitioner. Alongside the existing brands, the market has also seen new product launches. "We've got a number of big gaming clients, so we advise them regularly on all aspects of their business," says one partner. "[We advise them] when they're buying and selling businesses, when they're entering into contracts to set up new tournaments for their poker games for example. We look at terms and conditions on their websites, or look at their intellectual property contracts."

Funds managers have also been around, busy working on their new fund establishment and operation, which brings local practitioners regulatory-related work. "We advise the managers of the funds on what they should be doing to ensure their memorandum of the articles, their constitution is correct and up to date," says one. "Making sure everything they've done meets our Isle of Man law, and is not going to be questioned by the Financial Supervision Commission (FSC)."

The banking sector has unfortunately remains a victim of the financial meltdown and the accelerating Eurozone debt crisis. "Banking activities have been held back for the last couple of years, and now compare to last year, there's no great increase in new money lending," says one lawyer. On the other hand, restructuring work from the banks has been the order of the day, as one says: "We see restructuring work, which kept us very busy as well."