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The Capitol, Washington, DC After campaigning on tax reform as a priority for his second term and winning greater majorities in the both the House of Representatives and the Senate, President George W Bush looks well-placed to further advance his tax reform agenda, which could include a new federal consumption tax.

The Royal Dutch/Shell group's share-swap merger of its twin holding companies has required the Dutch tax authorities to approve a unique dividend access mechanism so that shareholders in the UK and in the Netherlands retain their present entitlements.

Two decisions from the House of Lords, the UK's highest court, have failed to give definitive guidance on tax avoidance in the UK. In the Scottish Provident case, which the Inland Revenue won, the law lords ruled on November 25 2004 that a court may need to consider a series of transactions when applying a tax law. But in a separate ruling on the same day, the Inland Revenue lost a verdict to Barclays Mercantile which confirmed that business purpose may not be necessary to enjoy a tax benefit. See the February 2005 issue for full-length feature.

By Phil Morrison & Bill Dodge, Deloitte Tax LLP, Washington, DC

Paseo de la Reforma 265

The re-election of the coalition government has buoyed the business community with heightened expectation of further tax reforms. High on the wish list is completion of the present round of business tax reforms and a government commitment to personal tax reform.

Better tax planning from better-qualified advisers is one of the key ways tax services need to improve in Latin America. Sed Crest uncovers what else tax executives have on their minds

Companies have a one-year window under the American Jobs Creation Act to repatriate profits to the US. Robert O'Shea and Caitriona McGonagle of Matheson Ormsby Prentice explain the best ways for companies in Ireland

An updated method of obtaining tax rulings in advance will become operational on January 1 2005. Since October 11 2004, advance financial rulings have also been possible, explain René Willems and Olivier Hermand of PricewaterhouseCoopers

Type of deal Valuer Acquirer Target Adviser to acquirer (tax) Adviser to target (tax) M&A $5.8 billion Cemex RMC Group Slaughter and May Linklaters, London, Charles Hellier, Sabina Margulies M&A ?621million ($812.7 million) Borgwarner The Carlyle Group agreed to sell Beru Borgwarner was advised by Hengeler Mueller Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy, Munich, Rolf Gerald Füger, Thomas Kleinheisterkamp M&A $160 million Fuji Photo Film Co Arch Chemicals agreed to sell its Microelectronics Materials business Winston & Strawn Cravath, Swaine & Moore, New York, Michael Schler, James Colliton, Shana Feldman, Michael O'Brien M&A £237 million ($437 million) First Islamic Investment Bank and Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein South Staffordshire Linklaters Ashurst, London, Ian Johnson, Paul Miller M&A £1.6 billion ($2.95 billion) Waren Acquisition, a company controlled by funds managed or advised by DLJ Merchant Banking III and JP Morgan Partners Warner Chilcott Weil Ashurst, London, Richard Palmer, Thomas Cartwright M&A $13.3 billion and $4.5 billion Ispat International will acquire LNM Holdings. Simultaneously, Ispat International and International Steel Group agreed a merger LNM Holdings. Following completion the company will be renamed Mittal Steel Co Ispat International was advised by Shearman & Sterling LNM Holdings was advised by Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, London, Nik Mehta, Kate Habershon M&A Undisclosed Forstmann Little & Company The trustees of the estate of Mark McCormack agreed to sell International Management Group Kirkland & Ellis International Management was advised by Jones Day, New York, John Cornell; Washington, Candace Ridgway; the trustees were advised by Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, New York, Jonathan Lee Koslow, Henry Wasserstein M&A $1.06 billion Aurora Capital Group agreed to acquire K&F Industries in a secondary buyout K&F Industries Gibson Dunn & Crutcher Willkie Farr & Gallagher, New York, Andrew Needham M&A $2.1 billion EnCana Corporation agreed to sell EnCana (UK) Nexen Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer Norton Rose, London, Louise Higginbottom M&A $400 million Jones Apparel Group Barneys New York Cravath Weil, Gotshal & Manges, New York, Andrew Gaines, Stuart Goldring, David Bower, Christine Agnew M&A Undisclosed Osaka Gas of Japan - acquisition of a 50% stake in an electricity power station in the Basque region of Spain from ESB International of Ireland Amorebieta Power Plant KPMG LLP ESB International in-house tax department M&A $3 billion Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group agreed to acquire NextWave Telecom NextWave Telecom Skadden Weil, Gotshal & Manges, New York, Stuart Goldring, Martin Amdur M&A £400million ($755 million) Prestbury Hotels Portfolio of Travelodge hotels KPMG LLP Deloitte, London, Marvin Rust, Tracy Payton; Clifford Chance, London, Shimaela Anwar M&A $1.23 billion Blackstone Group Boca Resorts Simpson Thacher & Bartlett Shearman & Sterling, New York, Don Lonczak M&A $1.5 billion Kraft Foods Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company Slaughter and May Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, Chicago, Maxwell Miller Type of deal Value Issuer Lead managers Adviser to Issuer Adviser to lead managers IPO $934 million Dreamworks Animation SKG completed a spin-off IPO The Goldman Sachs Group and JPMorgan Securities Cravath Simpson Thacher & Bartlett Debt facilities ?225 million ($291 million) Compass Partners European Equity Fund (Bermuda) Mizuho Corporate Bank, The Royal Bank of Scotland, Banca Intesa, GSC Partners and RBS Mezzanine PricewaterhouseCoopers Ashurst