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The new treaty includes capital gains protection on sales of equity; preferential withholding tax rates of either 5% or 10% on dividends, and withholding rates as low as 7% for royalties; the authority to make transfer pricing adjustments; and a residence article including all Hong Kong incorporated and managed businesses. Treaty talks began almost 18 months ago on March 9 2005. The treaty was signed on August 21.

Guy Kersch, the European tax counsel for the pharmaceuticals company, will move into private practice on September 11. Kersch will help develop Grant Thornton's transfer pricing practice.

Pitney Bowes, a communications company, has said it will pay the IRS $1.1 billion - mostly charged for the sale of its Capital Services business - over the next six months.

French law firm Gide Loyrette Nouel opened its office in Kiev, the Ukraine's capital, on September 4. A tax practice will be established here within six months.

Guidance on the treatment of cost sharing as well as mergers involving foreign companies are two of the proposals in the US Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) and Treasury Department's Priority Guidance Plan that may affect international tax executives in the coming months.

Based on the results of the pilot project, the New Salary Certificate Working Group, a mixed working group of the Swiss trade associations and the Swiss tax administration, unanimously recommended the following to the Swiss Tax Conference:

The Oxford Centre for Business Taxation has appointed Mike Devereux, an economist, as its first director. Ralph Cunningham spoke to the new appointment about the work that will be done in Oxford and his hopes for how it can help policy makers

Type of deal Value Acquirer Target Adviser to acquirer (tax) Adviser to target (tax) Acquisition €140 million ($179 million) Boundary Capital (Ireland) The Club Company (UK) Bird & Bird Mathew Oliver (UK) Acquisition $1.59 billion WPS Resources (US) Peoples Energy (US) Cravath, Swaine & Moore Stephen Gordon, Anne Kim, Sean K Thompson (US) LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae US Acquisition £460 million ($870 million) Premier Foods (UK) Campbell Soup (US) Weil, Gotshal & Manges Sarah Priestley (UK) Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer UK Acquisition and combination €2.85 billion ($3.64 billion) Cinven (Pan European), Warburg Pincus (US) Casema (Netherlands), Multikabel (Netherlands) Ashurst Richard Palmer, Helen Burton (UK) Acquisition $190 million Apax (UK) Central European Media (CME) Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom US Debevoise & Plimpton Peter Furci, Bruce Haims (US) Acquisition $302 million Crestview (US), management board of Munder Capital Management Munder Capital Management (US) Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom Katherine Bristor (US) Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz Jared Rusman (US) Acquisition $2.8 billion Doughty Hanson (UK), Providence Equity Partners (UK) The Cauldwell Group (UK) Doughty Hanson: Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom Tim Sanders (UK) Eversheds UK Acquisition attempt $1.6 billion IBM (US) FileNet (US) Cravath, Swaine & Moore Andrew Needham, Joseph Leti (US) Latham & Watkins US Acquisition $300 million Wenner Media (US) US Weekly (US) Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom Barnet Phillips (US) Acquisition £101 million ($191 million) Pearson (UK) Mergermarket (UK) Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer Roger Berner (UK) Merger $3.3 billion Weyerhaeuser (US) Domtar (US) Cravath, Swaine & Moore Andrew Needham, Rolf Zaiss, Annie Kim (US) Debevoise & Plimpton Gary Friedman (US), Ogilvy Renault Canada Acquisition $1.3 billion IBM (US) Internet Security Systems (US) Cravath, Swaine & Moore Andrew Needham, Justin Howell (US) Weil, Gotshal & Manges US Acquisition SKr 11.9 billion ($1.64 billion) LogicaCMG (UK) WM data (Sweden) Herbert Smith UK and France, Setterwalls Sweden, Gleiss Lutz Germany, Stibbe Netherlands, Castrén & Snellman Finland, Advokatfirmaet Schjødt Norway White & Case Acquisition $6 billion SL Green Realty (US) Reckson Associates Realty (US) Clifford Chance US Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz T. Eiko Strange (US) Acquisition $532 million Time Warner (US) Xspedius Communications (US) Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz T. Eiko Strange (US) Taft Stettinius & Hollister US Acquisition $4 billion Pan-Pacific Retail Properties (US) Kimco Realty (US) Latham & Watkins US Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz David Einhorn (US) Type of deal Value Issuer Lead managers Adviser to Issuer Adviser to lead managers Project finance €1.16 billion ($1.48 billion) Interbiak (Portugal) European Investment Bank (EU) Uría Menendez Portugal Equity placing £900 million ($1.7 billion) Aviva (UK) JPMorgan Cazenove (US), Hoare Govett (UK), Morgan Stanley (US) Slaughter and May Graham Airs, Liam Kane (UK) IPO £423 million ($800 million) Southern Cross Healthcare (owned by Blackstone Group (US)) Morgan Stanley (US), UBS (US) Clifford Chance UK Linklaters UK IPO $440 million Nikanor (Congo) JPMorgan Cazenove (US) Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer UK Collateralized debt obligation $1 billion New Bond Street CDO 1 plc (UK) IXIS Corporate and Investment Bank (France) Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer Murray Clayson, Andrew Thomson (UK) Robert Scarborough, Angela Sellman (US) Debt offering $500 million Expedia (US) JPMorgan (US), Lehman Brothers (US) Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz Jodi Schwartz (US) Simpson Thacher & Bartlett US

The Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury released the 2006-2007 Priority Guidance Plan on August 15.

A German finance ministry report measuring economic product against corporate tax returns found businesses here avoided €65 billion-worth of levies by taking advantage of low-tax jurisdictions. Die Welt, a German newpaper, reported the government's findings and a finance ministry spokesperson later confirmed these.