Search results for

Jayme Archinto: The cut may be controversial President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva signed a Decree on January 15 2004, cutting excise tax on capital goods, including machinery and equipment by up to 33%. The Decree reduces the excise tax on industrialized products, imported or local, for 643 capital goods.

India's tax authorities need to keep up with international tax trends to protect their income. The introduction of anti-avoidance measures to counteract the harmful tax practices of pro-taxpayer nations would contribute to increasing India's share in world tax collections, according to Sunil Gidwani and Rajat Panikkar of PricewaterhouseCoopers

Type of deal Value Acquirer Target Adviser to acquirer (tax) Adviser to target (tax) M&A $726 million North Fork Bancorporation The Trust Company of New Jersey Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, New York, Mitchell Solomon Sullivan & Cromwell, New York, David Spitzer, Miriam Elizabeth Paul M&A $120 million Westar Energy agreed to sell its interests in Protection one to an affiliate of Quadrangle Group The Quadrangle Group affiliate agreed to acquire 88% of the outstanding common shares of Protection One Davis Polk & Wardwell, New York, Kathleen Ferrel, Harry Ballan, Roy Caner Simpson Thacher & Bartlett M&A $2.9 billion Henkel KGaA The Dial Corporation Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, London, James Duncan, Eric Atkerson Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, Washington DC, Clifford Gross M&A Undisclosed Frank Russell Company Pantheon Holdings Debevoise & Plimpton, London, Peter Schuur SJ Berwin, London, Dominic Adams M&A $925 million CSL Aventis agreed to sell the Aventis Behring Plasma business Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, New York, Steve Todrys Shearman & Sterling, Munich, Peter Blessing, Jen Zheng M&A £145 million ($267 million) Davis Service Group HSS Hire Service Group Slaughter and May, London, Feiza Jivraj Travers Smith Braithwaite, London, Kathleen Russ M&A ?3.1 billion ($3.9 billion) The Blackstone Group Celanese Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, New York, Gary Mandel, Meredith Jones Shearman & Sterling M&A ?1.4 billion ($1.7 billion) Bain Capital Deutsche Bahn agreed the sale of its Brenntag and Interfer Stahl subsidiaries to Bain Capital Ashurst, Frankfurt, Karl Herkenroth, Karl Stenger; Kirkland & Ellis, Chicago, Jeffrey Sheffield, David Kung, Pratibha Shenoy Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, New York, Phillip Adams M&A Undisclosed Lazard WestLB agreed to transfer the Panmure stockbroking business to Lazard Herbert Smith, London, Isaac Zailer Allen & Overy, London, David Lewis, Ben Eaton, Jonathan Chapper, Mike Aherne M&A Undisclosed Bankhall Investment Management agreed to acquire the Premier Mortgage Services business from Prudential UK services Premier Mortgage Services Ashurst, London, Henry Franklin, Alastair Ladkin Maclay Murray & Spens, Glasgow, Martyn Jones, Caroline Colliston M&A Undisclosed Ripplewood Holdings and ZelnickMedia Corporation Ripplewood Holdings and Zelnick Media Corporation acquired Time Life, the direct marketing business of Time Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, New York, Gary Mandel, Adam Rosenzweig Cravath, Swaine & Moore, New York, Stephen Gordon, Lauren Angelilli M&A $385 million Novartis Novartis agreed to acquire the adult medical nutrition business of Mead Johnson & Company Shearman & Sterling, New York, Don Lonczak Cravath, Swaine & Moore, New York, Stephen Gordon, David Dubner M&A $2.4 billion FedEx Kinko's Davis Polk & Wardwell, New York, Kathleen Ferrel, Robert Heller Debevoise & Plimpton, New York, Peter Furci M&A $58 billion JP Morgan Chase Bank One Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, New York, Steve Todrys, Jeffrey Mensch Wachtel, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, New York, Adam Chinn, Jared Rusman M&A $1.2 billion Abbot Laboratories TheraSense Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, Chicago, Louis Freeman Davis Polk & Wardwell, New York, Harry Ballan Type of deal Value Issuer Lead managers Adviser to issuer Adviser to lead managers IPO $168 million Nelnet America Securities and Credit Suisse First Boston Cahill Gordon & Reindel Davis Polk & Wardwell, New York, Harry Ballan, Avrohom Gelber IPO £165 million ($289 million) Alea Group Holdings (Bermuda) Goldman Sachs International and Merril Lynch International Clifford Chance, London, Douglas French, Lisa McDermott Linklaters, London, Simon Marks Notes offering $3 billion Wyeth Citigroup Global Markets and JP Morgan Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, New York, Dickson Brown, Jeff Mensch Davis Polk & Wardwell, New York, Michael Farber, Misty Bailey

The government of the People's Republic of China has decided on a timetable for payment of overdue export tax rebates and will pay the amounts owed by the end of May. The rebate mechanism was introduced in the mid-1980s, but growth in China's export sector outpaced the government's ability to pay the tax refunds.

The government of Nigeria has accused the multinational oil company Shell of unfairly exploiting tax loopholes. The tax row centres on a reserves addition bonus scheme that offered companies generous incentives for investing in oil and gas. The alleged tax liability could be as much as $333 million.

KLegal's UK operation will re-brand itself as McGrigors on February 1 2004. The move comes after accounting parent KPMG cut its links with KLegal in response to US regulatory restrictions on the provision of non-audit services to audit clients.

The drive to prepare tax departments of law firms in Eastern Europe ahead of EU accession is gathering pace. The Warsaw office of US law firm Chadbourne & Parke has hired five tax lawyers from Altheimer & Gray in Poland, which will join the EU with nine other countries on May 1 2004.

David Miller: New rules would mean more work for tax advisers The US Treasury Department and the IRS has issued guidance for tax advisers as part of their campaign against abusive tax avoidance transactions. The guidance provides a set of best practices to ensure that tax advisers adhere to the highest ethical standards and inform their clients of any potential risks in certain tax transactions.

HM Customs & Excise (Customs) has put forward proposals to modify the criteria for value-added tax (VAT) grouping membership, to conform to the accounting consolidation rules rather than existing company law grouping rules. This is likely to affect many joint ventures (JVs), where VAT grouping is currently available but may be denied under the new rules. Customs considers that the current rules are too far removed from economic reality, and believes this situation is being abused. The changes, which are planned to take effect from mid-2004 without any transitional relief are subject to consultation. Corresponding changes are planned for limited partnerships.

David Blumenthal: Will offer a broad tax practice Dewey Ballantine launched a UK tax practice after poaching London-based Linklaters tax specialist David Blumenthal on January 14 2004. The move highlights a growing trend as US law firms expand their tax practices to cater for their clients' UK and European tax advice needs.