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The Bank of Ireland has made a IR £274 million ($465 million) bid for life assurance company New Ireland Holdings. Linklaters in London acted for Sun Life and Provincial Holdings, which owns an 83% shareholding in New Ireland. Tax advice on the deal came from tax partner Mike Hardwick and tax associate Liz Conway.

US telecommunications group MCI Communications has agreed to merge with WorldCom, the US long-distance telephone operator. The deal is valued at $37 billion.

On November 25 1997, UK Chancellor Gordon Brown launched an innovative pre-Budget debate. This was the so-called Green Budget; the colour reflects that of the government's consultative papers, rather than environmental concerns.

A $30 billion restructuring deal will merge the financial services division of BAT Industries and Zurich Insurance. BAT shareholders will own a 45% interest in the merged group, through a listed UK holding company. Zurich Insurance shareholders will own 55%, through a listed Swiss holding company. The new group will be called Allied Zurich. BAT Industries will spin off its tobacco industries into a new company, BAT.

Foreign investment flooded into Latin America in 1997, but investors should note that the region cannot be treated as a homogeneous unit, both in terms of tax rules, and in terms of the level of advice provided. Phillippa Cannon and Moray Borthwick report

British Aerospace and Daimler-Benz Aerospace have made a joint purchase of the Siemens Defence Electronics Group. British Aerospace will acquire Siemens Plessey Systems in the UK, and Siemens Plessey Electronic Sytems in Australia. Daimler-Benz Aerospace will acquire Siemens Bereich Sicherungs-technik in Germany. The total value of the deal has not been announced, but British Aerospace is to pay Dm930 million ($530 million) for the two businesses. The deal represents British Aerospace's third acquisition in Germany this year.

Publishing groups Reed Elsevier of the UK and Wolters Kluwer of the Netherlands have reached agreement to merge, in a £20 billion ($33 billion) deal. The combined market capitalization of the merged group will be £17.5 billion.

Tomkins has made a £70.5 million ($114.2 million) successful bid to acquire Golden West Foods.

US investment bank Merrill Lynch has made an agreed bid of £3.1 billion ($5.3 billion) to buy Mercury Asset Management, the UK's largest fund management group.

In an attempt to circumscribe tax planning, the UK government is toying with a general anti-avoidance provision. Peter Nias and Gareth Amdor, of Simmons & Simmons, London, argue that such a provision should be judged against first principles – not least fairness