Arthur Cox remains at the forefront of Irish tax law firms for cross-border transactional work. Conor Hurley leads a practice of about 15 fee earners and is described by a competitor as "one of the best M&A practitioners in Ireland". Ailish Finnerty ...
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Arthur Cox remains at the forefront of Irish tax law firms for cross-border transactional work. Conor Hurley leads a practice of about 15 fee earners and is described by a competitor as "one of the best M&A practitioners in Ireland". Ailish Finnerty has moved to New York and Alan Heuston is now in London every week which is a sign of the firm's increasing profile in international tax.
The group has developed a particular strength over the last few years on advising US migrations into Ireland. Fintan Clancy and David Robertson are advising Alkermes on their merger with the Irish company, Elan Corporation in a deal valued at about $960 million. This deal was different since it involved a US company, as opposed to an operating company moving to Ireland.
Building on their experience as acting on more cross-border mergers than any other firm in Ireland since the EU Cross-Border Mergers Directive was introduced in 2008, Hurley, Heuston and Jonathan Sheehan advised Lloyds Banking Group on the $1.3 billion merger between Bank of Scotland in Ireland and the UK. This deal was complicated by a challenge to the transaction in the Supreme Court in Dublin by investors who claimed to be the creditors of Bank of Scotland in Ireland, however, the Arthur Cox tax team managed to conclude the deal successfully.
Other work this year includes advising Warner Chilcott on the Irish tax aspects of one of the largest dividend recapitalisations in history. The practice has also advised on a number of investments into and out of China seeking to make use of Ireland's favourable tax treaty with that jurisdiction. Additional clients include Stryker Corporation, Bank of Ireland, Cooper Industries and Accenture.
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