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Akio Takisaki On December 14 2006, the 2007 tax reform proposals were released. Among the various items proposed, we have set out the main points specifically regarding international taxation as below:

Massimo Agostini The Italian Financial Act 2007, enacted December 27 2006, has introduced a new real estate investment vehicle called Società d'investimento immobiliare quotata (SIIQ). It is expected to become the Italian equivalent of, among other things, the US's Real Estate Investment Trusts and the French Societè d'Investissment Immobilier Cotee.

Draft bill almost fully implements EU merger directive Marc De Muynck Last summer the Belgian Government elaborated on a draft bill aimed at further implementing the EU merger directive (90/434/EEG dated July 23 1990) into the Belgian tax code.

Type of deal Valuer Acquirer Target Adviser to acquirer (tax) Adviser to target (tax) Acquisition £267 million ($525 million) Blackstone (US) Tragus Group (UK) Simpson Thacher & Barlett (UK), DLA Piper (UK) Ashurst (Alexander Cox, UK) Acquisition €430 million ($557 million) Management buy-out backed by Sagard (France) and Ergon (Belgium) Aliplast Group (Belgium) Clifford Chance Ashurst Acquisition €122 million ($158 million) GE Real Estate Italia (Italy) Italian office properties in Milan and Rome Ashurst (Paola Flora, Italy) Acquisition €226 million ($293 million) Pamplona (UK) Johnson Matthey (ceramics division) (UK) Jones Day (UK) Herbert Smith (Michelle Williamson, UK) Acquisition £103 million ($203 million) BSkyB (UK) 365 Media (UK) Herbert Smith (UK) SJ Berwin (UK) Acquisition $1 billion Carlyle Group (US) Elkcorp (US) Debevoise & Plimpton (Peter Furci, Karl Lee, US) Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz (US) Acquisition undisclosed Carlyle Group (US) Atlas Roofing (US) Debevoise & Plimpton (Peter Furci, Karl Lee, US) Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham (US) Acquisition $1.7 billion John H. Harland Company (US) M & F Worldwide (US) Cravath, Swaine & Moore (Stephen Gordon, Michael Breidenbach, US) Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom (Barnet Phillips, Ron Kovalsk, US) Acquisition £263 million ($517 million) Inchcape (UK) European Motor Holdings (UK) Slaughter and May (Dominic Robertson, UK) Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (UK) Acquisition $237 million Georgia-Pacific (US) five mills belonging to International Paper (US) Debevoise & Plimpton (Peter Furci, US) Acquisition C$1.25 billion ($1.07 billion) Nucor Corporation (US) Harris Steel (Canada) Stikeman Elliot (Canada) Goodmans (Maureen Berry, Canada) Acquisition $399 million Orascom Telecom Holding (Egypt) 7.91% stake in Orascom Telecom Algeria (Algeria) Gide Loyrette Nouel (Algeria) Allen & Overy (Dubai) Acquisition $2.35 billion Onex (Canada) Eastman Kodak (Health Group) (US) Kaye Scholer (US) Sullivan & Cromwell (US), Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer (Europe) Merger $2.72 billion FairPoint (US) Verizon (Wireline businesses in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont) (US) Paul Hastings (US) Debevoise & Plimpton (Peter Furci, David Schnabel, Vadim Mahmoudov, Brooke Monahan McKeever, Gabriela Palmieri, US) Acquisition $4.8 billion General Electric (US) Smiths Aerospace (UK) Slaughter and May (Steve Edge, Gareth Miles, Dominic Robertson, UK) Allen & Overy (Brenda Coleman, UK) Acquisition £218 million ($429 million) Oak Hill Capital, GenNx360 Capital, and Knox Lawrence (US) Vertex Data Science (UK) Olswang (Stephen Hignett, Stephen Smith, UK) Slaughter and May (Graham Airs, Edward Denny, Timothy Woodthorpe, UK) Type of deal Value Issuer/Borrower Lead managers/ lenders Adviser to issuer/borrower (tax) Adviser to lead managers (tax) CDO €317 million ($410 million) Henderson Global Investors (collateral manager) (UK) Bank of America Securities (underwritter) (US) Ashurst (Ian Johnson, UK) Milbank Tweed Hadley & McCloy (UK) Notes issue €508 million ($658 million) Avoca CLO VI/ Avoca Capital Holdings (Ireland) Credit Suisse (Switzerland) Matheson Ormsby Prentice (Ireland) Ashurst (UK), McKee Nelson (US)

Sean Foley The US Treasury Department announced that representatives of Belgium and the United States on November 27 2006, signed a new income tax treaty and protocol to replace the existing bilateral income tax treaty (concluded in 1970, amended in 1987).

In the Official Gazette No. 38.598 released on January 5 2007, two new agreements were announced with Korea and Austria respectively. Both aim to prevent fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income and capitol.

Kevin Rowe Edward Tanenbaum Overview The IRS has recently issued proposed regulations under Code Section 362(e)(2) dealing with the loss duplication rules enacted as part of the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004.

Roberto del Toro Diana González On December 22 2006, Mexican Federal Congress approved the 2007 tax reform, which entered into force on January 1 2007. This reform reflects the purpose of increasing the tax collections; however, the number of taxpayers contributing to the revenues will remain largely the same.

Laurent Grençon Nicolas Devillers New position of the Luxembourg VAT Authorities On December 29 2006, the VAT Authorities issued a long-awaited circular regarding changes in VAT aspects in the investment fund industry. These changes follow two major VAT cases brought to the European Court of Justice; the BBL case (C-8/03) and the Abbey National case (C-169/04).

China's embrace of the free market masks government institutions that make life unique for the tax professional here. Claire Jones finds out what tax professionals need to know to get the most from a novel political and economic environment