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Irish law firm Matheson Ormsby Prentice has elected the head of its tax practice Liam Quirke as managing partner. Quirke will retain a fee-earning role and remain head of the tax practice when he takes the top job on January 1 2004.

Bernard du Plessis: Appreciates working in a strong transactional practice South African law firm Sonnenberg Hoffman Galombik (SHG) picked up four senior PricewaterhouseCoopers tax specialists on December 1 2003. Their arrival follows a move to SHG by a 17-strong KPMG tax team in September 2002.

The proposed section 482 services regulations change many aspects of the transfer pricing regulations for related-party services and the ownership of intangible property.

The regulations published on October 17 2003 in the Official Gazette for Mexico contained new regulations to the Mexican Income Tax Law (MITL) which repealed and replaced the regulations previously published in 1984. These regulations became effective the day after their publication.

Dennis G Dimagiba and Jehremiah C Asis of Quisumbing Torres (associated office of Baker & McKenzie) explain how to structure swaps, repurchase and stock lending agreements

The Korean National Tax Service (NTS) announced on December 10 2003 it will only conduct transfer pricing audits of foreign-owned companies when there is a clear indication of transfer pricing manipulation. The NTS plans to ease its tax audits on foreign companies to provide a more favourable environment for foreign investors.

New Zealand should implement a broad-based corporate tax cut according to the OECD's annual survey of the country released on December 10 2003. The survey also said the country's tax rates, while on par with OECD averages, may not be attractive enough to stimulate increased foreign direct investment.

Hans-Joachim Jaeger has joined Ernst & Young in Switzerland as a partner and head of the firm's global financial services tax practice. Jaeger came from Julius Baer Group on November 1 2003 where he was deputy tax director.

UK law firm Masons has joined forces with Economic Laws Practice (ELP), a tax boutique in Bombay. Masons is targeting Indian Public Private Partnership and Private Finance Initiative work and will use ELP to offer tax advice.

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