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Smart and Associates has poached John Stine, a senior tax partner from Ernst & Young in the US

Argentina has recently launched new thin-capitalization rules by reforming the Income Tax Law, effective October 22 2003

UK law firm Masons has teamed up with the Bombay-based tax boutique ELP to service their clients in India. Masons is specifically targeting public-private partnership work with the move.

The Danish government has drafted legislation to put an end to tax-planning schemes used by Danish multinationals that result in a tax-free transfer of assets held by foreign subsidiaries

The Irish government announced fresh tax measures designed to attract international business in its Budget statement on December 3 2003

On November 7 2003 (Japan time), the Japanese ambassador to the US and the US secretary of the treasury signed a new income tax treaty. If both countries ratify it before December 31 2004, the new treaty would generally have effect as of January 1 2005.

The law for setting up National Tax Tribunals (NTT) was promulgated recently to dispose of tax cases faster. NTT will hear appeals against orders of the second level appellate authorities, previously heard by High Courts. Appeals against NTT's orders can be made to the Supreme Court of India.

Type of deal Value Acquirer Target Adviser to acquirer (tax) Adviser to target M&A $101 million Gardner Denver Syltone Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, London, Tim Sanders, Linda Davies, Paul van de Grampel Addleshaw Goddard, Leeds, Mathew Gorringe M&A £642 million ($1.93 billion) Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst proposes to acquire Weetabix Weetabix Weil, Gotshal & Manges, London, Sarah Priestley Ashurst, London, Richard Palmer, Kate Eveleigh M&A ?1.04 billion ($1.24 billion) Blackstone Group Deutsche Bank has agreed to sell 51 office and bank buildings in Europe Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, New York, John Hart; London, Meredith Jones Hengeler Mueller, Frankfurt, Friedhelm Jacob M&A £1.15 billion ($1.98 billion) Powergen Aquila Sterling Holdings agreed to sell Midlands Electricity Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, London, Colin Hargreaves Jones Day, London, Keith Featherstone M&A Undisclosed Texas Pacific Group Ripplewood Holdings agreed to sell KRATON Polymers Cleary Gottlieb Stein & Hamilton, New York, Yaron Reich Ripplewood Holdings was advised by Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, New York, Rob Holo, Jonathan Cantor M&A C$500 million ($383 million) RBC Insurance agreed to purchase the Canadian unit of Provident Life and Accident Insurance Company, a subsidiary of UnumProvident Corporation UnumProvident Corporation RBC Insurance was advised by McMillan Binch, Toronto, David Wentzell McCarthy Tétrault, Toronto, James Warnock, Jillian Welch M&A $4.4 billion Koch Industries El du Pont de Nemous and Company agreed to sell Invista Stikeman Elliot, Toronto, Kevin Kelly Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, New York, David Rievman M&A $2.8 billion RR Donnelley & Sons Moore Wallace Sidley Austin Brown & Wood, Chicago, Robert Ferencz, Sharp Sorensen Sullivan & Cromwell, New York, Willard Taylor; Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt, Toronto, Judith Harris M&A £102.4 million ($176.4 million) Platinum Equity Hays agreed to sell its logistics business Baker & McKenzie, London, Alex Chadwick, James Smith Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, London, Francis Sandison, Angela Savin, Laurent Sykes M&A £285 million ($491 million) Arbor, a vehicle specifically formed for the purpose of the acquisition by Collins Stewart MidOcean Partners agreed to sell Center Parcs UK Collins Stewart and Arbor advised by Simmons & Simmons, London, Nick Cronkshaw, Gareth Amdor, Zoe Feller Linklaters, London, Jan Birtwell, Stephen Pevsner, Georgina Nedas M&A £152 million ($265 million) Baugur/Kaupthing Oasis Stores KPMG, Birmingham, Brendan O'Grady, Iain Clarke, Renu Birla BDO, London, Paul Eagland, Charles Pascoe Type of deal Value Issuer Lead managers Adviser to issuer Adviser to lead man Bond issue ?616 million ($734 million) ACCOR BNP Paribas and Société Générale N/A Linklaters, Paris, Annick Lainé-Audouard, Laurent Dabernat Refinancing for two pub securitizations £1.82 billion ($3.12 billion) Punch Taverns Royal Bank of Scotland Slaughter and May Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, London, Michael Thompson Bond issue ?1 billion ($1.18 billion) FHB Land Credit and Mortgage Bank Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein Allen & Overy, Budapest, Zoltán Lengyel, Ágnes Bodi Berecz & Andrékó Linklaters Rights issue ?4 billion ($4.76 billion) Munich Re Deutsche Bank Allen & Overy, Frankfurt, Asmus Mihm Hengeler Mueller Bond issue $215.8 million Lonmin Cazenove and Morgan Stanley International Allen & Overy, London, Brenda Coleman, Andrew Howard, Jonathan Chapper Linklaters, London, Stephen Taylor Notes issue $500 million Bavaria ABN Amro Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, New York, Audra Lazarus, Rachelle Holmes Cravath, Swaine & Moore Securities issue ?300 million ($363 million) DZ Bank Capital Funding Trust 1, a Delaware Trust and a subsidiary of DZ Bank Deutsche Zentral-Genossenschaftsbank UBS Investment Bank Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer Linklaters, Frankfurt, Martin Krause; New York, Stephen Land IPO $237 million Aspen Insurance Holdings CSFB and Golman Sachs LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae, New York, Arthur Lynch, Saren Goldner; London, Andrew Terry Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, New York, Gary Mandel, Josh Eisenberg Rights issue ?751 million ($917 million) SCOR BNP Paribas, Goldman Sachs International, HSBC CCF Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, Paris, Xenia Legendre, Stéphane Héliot Debevoise & Plimpton Bond issue ?150 million ($183 million) Sol Melia Europe Barclays Capital Linklaters, Madrid, Nicolás Martín, Marta Esteban Cuatrecasas

Dividends from qualified foreign corporations received by US non-corporate shareholders will benefit from maximum reduced income tax rate of 15%. Oscar Teunissen, Oren Penn, Steve Nauheim and Puneet Arora of PricewaterhouseCoopers explain how it works

The European Commission announced an investigation into the fiscal settlement between the Belgian government and UMICORE, an international metals and materials group, after the Belgian government allegedly waived a ?20 million ($24.5 million) VAT liability.