Ray O’Connor has joined Ernst & Young in Dublin as a tax partner in the Financial Services group. Mr O’Connor has spent the last 13 years at AIB Group, where he was Head of Group Taxation.
Eoin MacManus, Leader of Ernst & Young Financial Services Ireland said: “We are delighted to welcome Ray as a Partner in our Financial Services Tax department. He brings unique expertise and specific sector experience which will allow us to provide clients with the insight and advice they need to grow their business”
Leading international tax lawyer Don J. Lonczak, who has substantial experience counseling clients on tax matters associated with cross border transactions, joined Baker Botts L.L.P. today as a partner in the firm’s Tax department. He will reside in the firm’s Washington and New York offices.
Lonczak has a broad-based, transaction-oriented practice that includes structuring and negotiating the tax aspects of domestic and international mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and corporate spin-offs, as well as of public and private financings and derivatives financial products. He regularly advises major corporate clients with respect to their internal tax planning strategies — both domestic and cross-border, transfer pricing policies and tax controversy matters.
Representative Engagements
- Marriott International in connection with the spin-off to shareholders of its worldwide timeshare business and related internal restructurings
- Liberty Global in connection with its pending merger with Virgin Media
- General Electric in connection with its acquisition of the aviation business of Avio S.p.A.
- Helm Corporation in its pending sale of Helm Bank SA to CorpBanca Columbia
- Dycom Industries in connection with its acquisition of the domestic telecommunications infrastructure services business of Quanta Services
- EQT Infrastructure Fund and Foristar in connection with the acquisition of Midland Cogeneration Venture Limited Partnership
- Borealis Infrastructure in connection with its minority investment in a portfolio of wind farm assets from EDP Renováveis S.A.
- LMA International N.V. in connection with its initial public offering on the Singapore Stock Exchange, its acquisition of Wolfe Tory Medical, Inc. and its sale to Teleflex, Inc.
- GrupoSura in connection with its acquisition of the Latin American pensions, life insurance and investment management operations of the ING Group
- Sungard Data Systems Inc. in connection with its acquisition by a consortium of private equity investment firms
- Cinram, Inc. in connection with a comprehensive refinancing and recapitalization transaction
- JBS S.A. in connection with its joint venture with Link Snacks, Inc. and its acquisition of a majority stake in Pilgrim’s Pride through a bankruptcy proceeding
- Diamond Castle Holding, LLC in connection with its leveraged acquisition of Blue Stone TV
- Bunge Limited in connection with its acquisition of Cereol S.A.
- Boston Scientific Corporation in connection with its acquisition of Guidant Corporation and the sale of its neurovascular business to Stryker Corporation
- DLJ Merchant Banking in connection with the sale of Peachtree Financial to J.G. Wentworth
- Abengoa Solar LLC in connection with its joint venture with BrightSource Energy to develop a solar electric generating system in California
- HLTH Corporation in connection with the downstream merger into its principal subsidiary, WebMD Health Corporation
- ContourGlobal in connection with the sale to International Finance Corporation of an interest in a thermal power plant in Togo, West Africa
- GE Energy Financial Services in connection with financing for its Caledonia combined cycle power plant
- BE Aerospace in connection with its acquisition of Interturbine Projekt Management GmbH, TSI Group Inc. and UFC Aerospace Corp.
- Avenue Capital in connection with the bankruptcy reorganization of Milacron Inc.
- Société Générale in connection with the joint venture of worldwide brokerage businesses between its Fimat affiliate and Calyon Financial
- Mittal Steel N.V. in connection with its acquisition of International Steel Group in a partially tax-free reorganization
- Novartis AG in connection with the divestiture of its medical nutrition business to Nestlé, the acquisition of the adult nutritional supplement business of the Mead Johnson division of Bristol Myers Squibb and the spin-off of its worldwide agricultural business as Syngenta AG
- Deutsche Bank AG in connection with the sale of its worldwide custody business to State Street, and the sale of its U.S.-based consumer finance business to E*Trade
Prior to joining Baker Botts, Lonczak was a partner in Shearman & Sterling LLP’s tax group. He earned his law degree from Georgetown University and his LL.M. in Tax from New York University.
Hot on the heels of the news of Mills & Reeve’s acquisition of George Davies in Manchester, the Firm has announced six new internal partner appointments from 1 June 2013.Alison Bull and Deborah Clark will become partners in the Manchester family and private tax teams.
Deborah is a barrister and a chartered tax adviser, having spent some time working in accountancy. She moved from Birmingham in 2009 to establish our private tax team in Manchester and her innovative work on family investment companies helped the firm to secure the Private Client Team of the Year trophy in last year’s Manchester Legal Awards.
Both Alison and Deborah will play leading roles in the integration of our George Davies colleagues into the Manchester office.
John Grundy will be a partner in private tax in Birmingham. He is chairman of the Birmingham branch of the Society for Trust and Estate Practitioners.
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Graeme Privett became a Partner within Rawlinson & Hunter’s Private Client Tax team on 1 April 2013.
Graeme, a Chartered Tax Adviser and Trust and Estate Practitioner, joined the firm’s private client tax group in 2002. He advises on a wide range of personal tax issues for both UK and non-UK domiciled individuals, including those clients with complex and substantial non-UK interests. Graeme manages the general tax compliance for a portfolio of clients and provides practical advice taking into account the increasing reporting requirements.
Graeme is experienced in dealing with tax advisers in other jurisdictions, in particular with the United States, to provide comprehensive advice.
Thomas Eggar has promoted two of its private client lawyers to the partnership.
Caroline Shelton, based in Gatwick, is a private client lawyer with 12 years’ experience. She specialises in all aspects of estate planning advising a broad cross section of clients on wills, trusts and capital tax planning. She also acts in the administration of high value and complex estates and, in recognition of her work with elderly and vulnerable clients, is a full member of Solicitors for the Elderly.
Darran Fawcett sits in the Chichester office. He joined the firm in 1990 and as trust manager and has been responsible for the administration, accounting and taxation of approximately 1,000 trusts. Darran is also treasurer for the Sussex branch of STEP.
Charlotte Watts has been promoted to partner at Wilsons, bringing the total number of litigation partners to 12. She specialises in contentious trust and probate legacy administration issues and regularly advises on proceedings in the Court of Protection.
Charlotte qualified with Wilsons in 2005 and is a member of StEP, ACTAPS and the Charity Law Association.
Saffery Champness has promoted Robert Langston in the London office with effect from April.
Robert, who joined the firm in 2011, is a Chartered Tax Adviser specialising in corporate and international tax. He advises UK companies expanding outside the UK, non-UK companies coming to the UK, tax efficient group restructuring and cross-border transactions. He has worked with leading companies from industries as diverse as property, mining and consultancy services.
Jonathan Fox, Managing Partner of Saffery Champness, commented:
“I am very pleased to be able to welcome Roger, Jonathan and Robert to the partnership. As a firm, we are committed to ensuring we retain and attract the most talented individuals to better serve the complex and often international needs of our private and corporate clients.”
Alistair Hunt joined the partnership in May. He is based in the Peterborough office and joins from RSM Tenon where he was Director of Audit, Tax and Advisory.
His clients include AIM listed businesses, further education colleges, Limited Liability Partnerships, as well as limited companies. Many of his clients have international dimensions to their businesses, with foreign ownership and interests. Alistair acts as the relationship and audit partner to ensure that his clients are serviced to the highest standards. Alistair is the responsible individual on audit assignments.
His experience is varied, covering due diligence, listing work, restructuring, international, family business, succession, tax planning, corporate governance and risk management. He specialises in the agricultural businesses, wholesalers, information technology, manufacturing, education and legal practice sectors.
Mayer Brown has announced that prominent tax attorney Edward C. Osterberg, Jr. has joined the firm in Houston as a partner in the Tax Transactions & Consulting practice. Previously, he was a partner at Vinson & Elkins in Houston.
“With more than 30 years of experience, Ed is well-known in Houston for his impressive track record of handling a wide range of sophisticated international tax transactions for multinational companies, particularly for those in the energy industry,” said Jason Bazar, a co-leader of Mayer Brown’s global Tax Transactions & Consulting practice. “Ed’s unique skill set expands Mayer Brown’s position as a leading law firm in the international tax space while further diversifying the firm’s offerings in Houston and across our global platform.”
Mr. Osterberg focuses his practice on all areas of business income taxation, with emphasis on corporate and partnership taxation and international transactions. He has advised corporate and individual clients on the federal tax consequences of various transactions, including mergers and acquisitions; tax-free reorganizations; corporate spin-offs and other divestitures; partnerships; foreign operations, including cross-border joint ventures with non-US partners; and inbound investment into the United States by non-US investors. He has extensive experience representing energy companies across various sectors.
“Mayer Brown’s strong global platform and vast resources complement my extensive experience in providing energy-related tax transactions counsel to both domestic and international energy companies,” said Mr. Osterberg. “I look forward to contributing to the continued growth of the Houston office and working with my new colleagues around the world.”
Neil Wasserstrom, partner-in-charge of Mayer Brown’s Houston office, said Mr. Osterberg’s arrival continues the expansion of the office. “Ed’s arrival will further accelerate Mayer Brown’s positive momentum in Houston, where we have recently added top-tier partners including Shawn O’Brien in our Tax Controversy practice, Bill Heller, Harry Beaudry and Kirk Tucker in our Corporate & Securities practice and Bill Hart, Jr. in our Banking & Finance practice, all of whom have joined us from leading firms in Houston in the past year,” he said.
Mr. Osterberg received an LLM degree in Taxation from Southern Methodist University, a JD degree cum laude from the Northwestern University School of Law and a BA from Northwestern University.
