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US law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz is advising Fleet Financial on its takeover of BankBoston. The acquisition, which is valued at $16 billion will end BankBoston’s four year aggressive expansion policy.

The German Finance Minister, Hans Eichel, has indicated that he will appoint Heribert Zitzelsberger, Head of Tax at Bayer Chemicals, as his deputy on tax policy. The move may promote better relations between industry and government on tax policy, following the unpopular policies of former finance minister Oskar Lafontaine.

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu to integrate globally, De Beers in diamond value dispute, Sweden’s finance minister resigns in tax row, Japan gives break to petrol groups

UK Customs & Excise have lost a landmark case on VAT to credit company FDR. The decision, by a VAT tribunal, places pressure on the government to scrap the measure it introduced in the March Budget, stating that outsourced financial services are subject to VAT.

BMC, a software company in Houston has bought New Dimension Software, an Israeli company, for $9.6 billion. New Dimension manufactures software which manages complicated computer systems, and BMG specializes in similar software.

UK law firm Freshfields has opened an office in Amsterdam, and recruited four lawyers from major Dutch firms. Three of the lawyers are from Stibbe Simont Monahan Duhot, including tax specialist Charles Langereis. The remaining lawyer is from de Brauw Blackstone Westbroek, the Dutch Linklaters & Alliance member.

The Chairman and Deputy Chairman of KPMG in Canada have resigned following weeks of controversy involving the firm. J Spencer Lanthier and D Hugh Bessell were closely involved in negotiations that would have led to the merger of the Canadian branch of KPMG with big five rival Arthur Andersen. When the merger broke down, the two felt that they had no option but to resign.

Regional and district level lawmakers have used the opportunity to grant tax exemptions as a tool to attract investment to their localities. Since 1991, when the fundamentals of the Russian tax system were first established, a wide range of local tax incentive legislation has been put in place. While the basic principle of these various pieces of legislation is similar, namely to provide investment incentives for certain types of taxpayers, the mechanisms employed are often very different in character and have grown in sophistication with practice and experience.

Spain has become a platform for the establishment of international investments, both for foreign investors interested in investing worldwide and for purely Spanish groups.

Mayer Brown and Platt is advising UK-based GEC on the takeover of Reltec, a US telecoms products producer. GEC are paying $2.1 billion for Reltec, and also assuming $361 million of debt.