Tax Grotto » allen overy

Founding Tax Partner for A&O Australia

Chris Bale — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 08:11:54 +0000

Allen & Overy has now launched in Australia and the partner spearheading their tax practice is [private]Andrew Stals [/private]

Weil, Gotshal & Manges expands its International Tax practice in New York and London

Chris Bale — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 14:30:49 +0000

Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP has announced the expansion of our international tax practice with two partners joining in London and New York. [private]Brenda Coleman will be joining Weil Gotshal’s London office and Patrick Jackman has joined the New York office.

Martin Pollack, co-chair of Weil Gotshal’s Global Tax practice, stated, “The firm’s focus on advising clients worldwide is clearly reflected in our tax practice. We provide innovative transactional M&A and restructuring advice for some of the world’s largest corporations. The international experience that Brenda and Patrick bring is an excellent addition to the team at a crucial stage in the economic cycle.”

Brenda Coleman has been a Corporate Tax partner at Allen & Overy and before that, at Herbert Smith, for 18 years, having originally trained at Slaughter and May.

She has worked on the tax aspects of various corporate, restructuring, real estate and fund formation matters. Her experience includes advising on the restructurings of Nybron, Monier, Eurotunnel, Marconi, Boxclever and TXU. Most recently, she has advised HBOS plc on its £4 bn rights issue with HM Treasury and its merger with Lloyds TSB Group plc.

She is consistently recommended by the legal directories and is reported by Chambers as being “an excellent practitioner with deep technical knowledge.”

Mike Francies, Managing Partner of the London office commented, “Our London corporate tax team, led by Sarah Priestley, has played a central role on a wide range of cross-border corporate and restructuring work. Adding Brenda to the team is an important next step in offering clients ever more innovative tax solutions on an international scale.”

Patrick Jackman was most recently a Managing Director and Head of the International Tax Advisory Group for Merrill Lynch, where he focused on optimizing the tax efficiency of Merrill’s cross border operations. Prior to Merrill Lynch, Jackman was a partner in KPMG’s International Corporate Services and National Tax Group, where he played a lead role in the cross border transactional tax practice and was involved in all aspects of public and private mergers, acquisitions, spin-offs and partnerships. In addition, Jackman is a co-author of one of the leading International M&A Tax Treatises.

The two new partners join a team of 72 tax specialists located across the firm’s international offices. Recognized for its excellence worldwide, Weil Gotshal’s tax practice and partners are highly ranked in leading legal directories such as Chambers, Legal 500 and PLC Which Lawyer?, among others. [/private]

2 A&O tax associates in Europe get promoted to counsel

Chris Bale — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 17:59:12 +0000

[private]Allen & Overy has promoted 2 tax associates to counsel positions, recognising the valuable contribution these senior lawyers make to the business.

The promotions are effective from 1 May 2009.

Brussels – Stéphanie Houx

Luxembourg – Marie Junius
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A&O makes up one new tax partner

Chris Bale — Wed, 06 May 2009 08:08:23 +0000

[private]Allen & Overy has announced 20 promotions to partner across 10 offices in nine countries. The promotions take effect from 1 May 2009 and include new tax partner Patrick Mischo based in Luxembourg.
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Patrick Mears advises Nationwide on part acquisition of Dunfermline

Chris Bale — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 17:38:54 +0000

[private]Allen & Overy LLP has advised Nationwide on its part-acquisition of Dunfermline Building Society.

The Allen & Overy team was led by corporate partner Alistair Asher, assisted by corporate associates Hugh Lauritsen and David Norman. A complex Transitional Services Agreement was dealt with by IP/IT partner Jim Ford. Treasury advice was provided by ICM partner Jonathan Mellor and Senior Associate Daniel Franks.

They were assisted by a large team of specialists from across the London office: Pensions partner Maria Stimpson, assisted by Caroline Overton, Tax partner Patrick Mears assisted by Steffan Adfeldt, Employment partner Mark Mansell, Senior Associate Alison Berridge and Mark Thompson for competition law and Real Estate partner Adam Cleal assisted by Chris Woolf.[/private]

Horváth & Partners DLA Piper adds 2 tax specialists

Chris Bale — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 12:00:31 +0000

International law firm Horváth & Partners DLA Piper has hired 2 tax specialists. [private]

Before joining DLA Piper, Levente Torma (32) headed the Budapest tax practice of Allen & Overy, which hired him from the Budapest office of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. He has extensive experience in national and international taxation and tax planning especially in tax-driven corporate restructuring, M&A, tax litigation, EC tax laws, taxation of financial instruments, tax driven asset finance, employee remuneration schemes, transfer pricing and VAT. Levente Torma’s responsibility will be to further expand the growing tax group.

László Bóné (32) has joined DLA Piper from the Budapest office of CMS Cameron McKenna. Formerly, he worked as a tax advisor at PricewaterhouseCoopers. He has extensive experience in corporate law and specializes in cross border M&A transactions. He regularly advises domestic and international clients operating in the commercial, industrial and financial sectors. László Bóné’s will work in the corporate group, a core practice of the firm.[/private]
Horváth & Partners DLA Piper is a business law firm which provides its international and domestic clients with integrated legal services, relying on its lawyers’ international experience and local expertise in an increasingly competitive Hungarian business environment. Since its foundation in 1988, the law firm has established its reputation for corporate and finance & projects work. Its real estate, commercial and media practices are also making a significant impact on the market.

DLA Piper is one of the most dynamically growing global legal service providers, which has 66 offices in 28 countries worldwide. The London and Chicago-based firm was ranked as the most active law firm on global M&A deals in 2008 by M&A intelligence service mergermarket.com.

A&O Private Client Partners set up new Firm: Maurice Turnor Gardner

Chris Bale — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 18:44:45 +0000

In response to the unprecedented current, global market conditions, A&O today announced proposals to reduce the size of the Firm.

They have announced a global reduction in partner headcount of approximately 9 per cent (47 partners) and are planning a series of other measures to ensure future competitiveness, including a proposed 9 per cent reduction in the number of other fee earners globally and a similar proposed reduction in support staff headcount. 2009 pay will be frozen for all staff globally and we will continue to bear down on all other costs.

As part of this strategic review, they have also announced today that the private client practice is to demerge and become an independent firm, Maurice Turnor Gardner LLP, with effect from 1 May 2009.

Former Shearman’s Tax Partner, Dr Gottfried E. Breuninger, to open A&O’s new Munich office

Chris Bale — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 21:46:05 +0000

Allen & Overy LLP announced today it will open a new office in Munich in October 2008. With its existing offices in Düsseldorf, Frankfurt am Main, Hamburg and Mannheim, Allen & Overy will be represented in five of Germany’s key economic centres. The new office will be developed by tax partner Dr Gottfried E. Breuninger and M&A partner Dr Astrid Krüger, who will join Allen & Overy.

“The addition of a Munich office significantly bolsters Allen & Overy’s presence in Germany”, comments Dr Cornelius Fischer-Zernin, Senior Partner at Allen & Overy Germany. “The Bavarian state capital is one of the most important locations in the German legal market and is also one of the major European economic centres. A presence on the ground in Munich will enable us to provide an even better service to our clients in the region. Gottfried Breuninger and Astrid Krüger enjoy an excellent reputation in Munich and beyond. They form a great start-up team, which I am convinced will prove a real asset to our practice in Germany.”

Dr Gottfried E. Breuninger specialises in national and international corporate tax law, with a particular focus on M&A transactions and post-acquisition structures, tax-driven restructurings and the tax structuring of hybrid and cross-border financings. Before joining Allen & Overy, he headed the Munich office of Shearman & Sterling for more than three years. Furthermore, he became head of German tax at Shearman & Sterling in 2002 and co-head of their global tax group last year.

Dr Astrid Krüger also joins Allen & Overy from Shearman’s Munich office, where she has been a partner since 2006. She specialises in national and cross-border M&A transactions, as well as in corporate restructurings and in the implementation of tax structurings.

“Astrid Krüger perfectly complements our existing M&A practice. By winning her for our team, we have clearly demonstrated both to our clients and our competitors that we are committed to continuing to pursue our strategy of expanding our corporate/M&A practice”, says partner Dr Helge Schäfer, head of Allen & Overy’s corporate practice in Germany.

Partner Eugen Bogenschütz, head of Allen & Overy’s German tax practice, adds: “I am very pleased that Gottfried Breuninger has decided to join our team. The arrival of one of the leading German tax-law experts presents a unique opportunity for us to strengthen our international tax practice.”

Last year Allen & Overy increased its presence in Germany with the addition of two new offices in Düsseldorf and Mannheim. Cornelius Fischer-Zernin adds: “The integration of our Düsseldorf and Mannheim teams into our German practice and our international network has been extremely successful. I am convinced that the integration of the Munich office will be just as smooth.”

A&O makes up Tax Partners in New York and Paris

Chris Bale — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 10:22:00 +0000

Allen & Overy LLP has announced 32 promotions to partner effective 1 May 2007. This is the second year in a row that Allen & Overy has promoted over 30 people to partner after last year’s record 33 promotions. There are two new tax partners:

David Lewis (New York) joined the firm in 2001 and holds a J.D. from the University of Maryland School of Law and an LL.M. in taxation from New York University School of Law. He has significant experience in domestic and international tax planning, corporate mergers and acquisitions, domestic and international joint ventures and Global Capital Markets transactions.

Mathieu Vignon (Paris) also joined in 2001 and his education comprises: LLM International taxation, New York University School of Law, DESS Business and Tax Law, University Pantheon-Sorbonne. Mathieu’s work focuses on the tax treatment of financial transactions, debt and equity capital markets, derivatives, securities lending and repos, asset finance, asset management, structured financial products, securitisations (cash and synthetic transactions) and other asset-back financings. Mathieu also has experience in mergers and acquisitions, LBOs, property investments, joint ventures and venture capital transactions.

A&O’s Patrice Couturier advises on IDEX deal

Chris Bale — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 10:53:00 +0000

The Paris office M&A team of Allen & Overy LLP has advised GE Energy Financial Services, a unit of General Electric, on its entry on the European water market trough the acquisition of IDEX Aquaservices from IDEX Groupe.

General Electric becomes the first American company to invest in France water market. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

IDEX Aquaservices is a developer, owner and operator of facilities that purify water for the food, beverage and cosmetics industries. IDEX Groupe is one of France’s largest private energy and environmental services company.

The Allen & Overy Paris team was led by Nicolas Bichot (M&A Partner) and Rod Cork (Project Finance Partner), Anne-Laure Duvaud and Anne-Louise Varroquier (M&A Associates) with the assistance of Patrice Couturier (Tax Partner) on tax issues.

Patrice Couturier has been a French Tax Partner in the Paris office of Allen & Overy LLP since 2002. He joined the practice in 1999 as a senior associate after having spent more than twelve years advising on tax matters with accounting and law firms.