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The comprehensive guide to the world's leading tax firms

Linklaters maintains its standing as one of the top Belgian tax firms. The group is headed by Henk Vanhulle who is singled out by his competitors. "I come across him in nearly every big financial tax matter in Belgium" said one partner.Linklaters has ... [more]

Linklaters maintains its standing as one of the top Belgian tax firms. The group is headed by Henk Vanhulle who is singled out by his competitors. "I come across him in nearly every big financial tax matter in Belgium" said one partner.

Linklaters has suffered this year with a couple of departures but this is something that is being addressed. The firm benefits from its balance between its three practice areas: transactional, tax advisory and litigation and they are strong in all of these.

The firm advises a number of multinationals including BNP Paribas, Johnson & Johnson, Suzlon Energy, GDF Suez and Arcelor Mittal. The practice regularly works on highly complex, multi-billion dollar cross-border transactions.

Oliver Van Ermengem acted for Arcelor Mittal on the demerger and listing of its stainless and speciality steel business. This was the first spin-off involving a listed Luxembourg company under the EU Prospectus Directive and made in accordance with the amended Luxembourg companies law. Vanhulle advised GDF Suez on the combination of its international energy business with International Power in a deal worth $6 billion.

Insolvency and restructuring work has been important in the aftermath of the financial crisis. Partner Ivo Onkelinx and managing associate Nicolas Lippens spent most of last year advising Anheuser-Busch InBev on the tax-driven $2 billion restructuring of the SUN-INBEV group, its subsidiary. The project spanned seven different jurisdictions.

The firm's VAT team have seen an increase in work this year. Partner Guido de Wit is unanimously praised by his peers and described as "the man to go to for indirect tax work". The team advised Anheuser-Busch In-Bev and Janssen Pharmaceutica on VAT issues.

Linklaters is one of the strongest tax law firms in France for transactional work. A number of their professionals are frequently mentioned in the market for being leaders in their fields. Head of tax Edouard Chapellier and Remi Montredon are subject ... [more]

Linklaters is one of the strongest tax law firms in France for transactional work. A number of their professionals are frequently mentioned in the market for being leaders in their fields. Head of tax Edouard Chapellier and Remi Montredon are subject to praise for their M&A, with the former described as "one of the best on the Paris market". Michael Jaffe is mentioned for corporate tax.

This year the practice has been involved in some of the most innovative transactions in the market. Chapellier, alongside Thomas Perrot, of counsel, advised a global steel company on a demerger of part of its business in the first spin-off involving a listed Luxembourg company under the EU Prospectus Directive. This involved a lot of complex structuring and eventual offering of the shares of the new company.

Other work includes advising a large energy company on selling a 25% stake in a gas transmission operator as part of the implementation in France of the third EU directive on the liberalisation of the natural gas market, and advising a number of private equity groups on the acquisition of a stake in a manufacturing company.

Other clients they have worked for this year include Change Capital, AXA, Vodafone, EDF and BP.

Linklaters's tax practice is headed by Sebastian Benz and consists of 32 fee earners. Around 40% of their work is generated by the tax team while the rest is made up of support work for the corporate and capital markets group. Their strength lies in ... [more]

Linklaters's tax practice is headed by Sebastian Benz and consists of 32 fee earners. Around 40% of their work is generated by the tax team while the rest is made up of support work for the corporate and capital markets group. Their strength lies in the close integration of the tax practice with the other teams and also its ability to draw on its international network for cross-border work.

Unsurprisingly then the practice has been involved in some of the largest transactions in Germany over the last year. Benz, Christian Böing and Tobias Kuck have been advising Deutsche Börse on its proposed merger with NYSE Euronext. The deal has required tax advice in several jurisdictions and here the practice has made use of the international firm. It is also negotiating with the authorities since it is proposed that the new holding company will be located in the Netherlands.

The Düsseldorf and Munich offices have advised ArcelorMittal on the spin-off of its stainless steel business. This involved a lot of restructuring work in anticipation of an IPO. In particular when transferring the German subsidiaries into a separate company there was a particular issue with the real estate owned and the practice had to develop a structure to avoid transfer tax.

Thomas Elser and Jan Jetter also advised Apax Partners on the acquisition of fashion chain Takko Holding in the biggest leveraged buyout in Germany since the financial crisis. Apax borrowed €850 million to make the purchase. Other clients that the tax practice has represented over the last year are BMW, DekaBank, Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund, Lloyds Banking Group, Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations, Goldman Sachs, Commerzbank and BlackRock Advisors.

Linklaters's tax practice is headed by corporate partner Laurent Schummer after Paul Tulcinsky left to go to Stibbe. Pierre-Régis Dukmedjian has joined this year having previously worked at ATOZ – Taxand and PwC. There are six tax professionals at the ... [more]

Linklaters's tax practice is headed by corporate partner Laurent Schummer after Paul Tulcinsky left to go to Stibbe. Pierre-Régis Dukmedjian has joined this year having previously worked at ATOZ – Taxand and PwC. There are six tax professionals at the firm now.

The tax team works closely with other practice groups in Luxembourg and with the extended Linklaters network, often providing support work in corporate, regulatory and financing issues. The practice has seen a particular increase in private equity work over the last year, often advising on the structuring of real estate, infrastructure and distressed debt funds.

Schummer, Rachel Blaise and Danièle Buchler advised on the setting up of a real estate investment fund structure for BNP Paribas Real Estate Investment Services. Other work this year includes advising on a €2 billion restructuring for Anheuser-Busch InBev, and acting for ArcelorMittal on the demerger of its stainless and specialty steels businesses from its global steel and steel related products businesses. Other clients are AXA, BNPP, Credit Suisse, Triton and Nomura.

Linklaters' Portuguese practice is lead by Rui Camacho, with just one other fee earner making up the department. Their work has a strong transactional focus, though they have also undertaken some restructuring work this year. As such, it is no surprise ... [more]

Linklaters' Portuguese practice is lead by Rui Camacho, with just one other fee earner making up the department. Their work has a strong transactional focus, though they have also undertaken some restructuring work this year. As such, it is no surprise that many of its clients are in the financial sector and include Citibank, Credit Suisse, ECS- Sociedade de Capital de Risco and Cetelem. Highlights of their work include advising on the creation of Banco BNP Paribas Personal Finance in Portugal and the tax implications for the BNP Paribas group. This was a complex transaction due to the extent and sophistication of BNP Paribas' group structure after its subsidiary Cetelem's acquisition of Cofinoga. One of Portugal's major consumer credit providers, Credifin, was part of Cofinoga's group. Linklaters had to conduct an intra-group merger after the acquisition to ensure the group's consumer credit operations were offered via a single company, the newly created Banco BNP Paribas Personal Finance, in a tax efficient structure.

The Spanish tax team of Linklaters is led by Javier Garcia-Pita who is the sole partner of the practice. Garcia-Pita is renowned for his ability in M&A matters. One of his peers remarks: "He is a very brilliant tax lawyer with a team who are strong in ... [more]

The Spanish tax team of Linklaters is led by Javier Garcia-Pita who is the sole partner of the practice. Garcia-Pita is renowned for his ability in M&A matters. One of his peers remarks: "He is a very brilliant tax lawyer with a team who are strong in private equity, corporate and M&A." The firm has four fee earners in addition to Garcia-Pita. A good example of the firm's M&A and private equity expertise was the acquisition of eDreams by a group of funds managed by the Permira group. The firm then managed the new entity's subsequent acquisition of two further travel groups as part of a joint venture with the Axa Private Equity company GoVoyages. Throughout, the firm had to handle a variety of tax issues including the structure to be used for the joint venture and a tax-efficient remuneration and incentives scheme for the management team of eDreams.

Mats Anderson has returned to Linklaters in Sweden to lead the tax department of this year after a spell running a legal consultancy firm. The department is completed by three other fee earners. They advise clients on a full range of tax issues, though ... [more]

Mats Anderson has returned to Linklaters in Sweden to lead the tax department of this year after a spell running a legal consultancy firm. The department is completed by three other fee earners. They advise clients on a full range of tax issues, though principally M&A, capital markets and financial products as a significant portion of the firm's work is generated by those departments. The firm's clients include several financial sector companies such as Triton Capital, Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays and Handelsbanken. This year the firm advised Triton Capital, where Linklaters Sweden's former head of tax Lars Jonsson now works, on its acquisition of lift components manufacturer Wittur Group. The firm handled all aspects of the transaction ensuring that the tax advice was tailored to the client's commercial needs. The department also advised a consortium of Nordic banks acting as senior lenders in the financing of EQT V's SKr12 billion ($1.86 billion) acquisition of leisure products manufacturer Dometic Group. The financing involved a €200 million ($286 million) bridge to structurally subordinated payment in kind (PIK) high yield bonds from arranger Goldman Sachs at a late stage in the transaction to ensure completion. This required the firm to implement a tax efficient structure for the repayments due in relation to the bonds.

Linklaters has experienced a resurgence of work related to M&A and equity raisings this year. Dominic Winter led the team that advised J.P Morgan on the £700 million ($1.12 billion) IPO of Vallar plc, a listed acquisition vehicle in the mining sector. ... [more]

Linklaters has experienced a resurgence of work related to M&A and equity raisings this year. Dominic Winter led the team that advised J.P Morgan on the £700 million ($1.12 billion) IPO of Vallar plc, a listed acquisition vehicle in the mining sector. This was one of the largest acquisition vehicle listings on the London market to date and necessitated advice on international tax structuring and implementation. The practice also advised GDF Suez on their €20.2 billion ($28.1 billion) reverse takeover of International Power. Mark Kingstone and Lucy Jones conducted the team to create a tax efficient structure for a pre-completion internal reorganisation, inter-group financing and the cash-box structure utilised to fund a special dividend to International Power shareholders. The firm's advisory role in BP's £4.5 billion ($7.19 billion) financing of its operations in Azerbaijan and Angola illustrates its credentials where complex corporate structures are concerned. Loan facilities are to be provided to BP Angolan and BP Caspian entities directly but are to be repaid out of the proceeds paid to each company's special purpose vehicle (SPV) by BP Oil International for crude oil in a back-to-back arrangement. Each facility is secured over the assets of the SPV, including commercial contracts and accounts. This structure prevents any liability under the loan agreements attaching to BP plc directly, significantly complicating tax arrangements in the process. Contentious tax represents a strong point for the firm, with further work being done for BP in pursuit of a £300m refund from HMRC in respect of stamp duty reserve tax. Department head Yash Rupal, who is highly rated by his rivals, led the firm in advising Vodafone in their challenge of HMRC's proposed investigation of tax affairs. The case involved substantial coordination between the litigation and tax practices to obtain an early reference to the European Court of Justice in 2007. The team was heavily involved negotiation with HMRC that resulted in settlement of the issue in July 2010.

PwC provides clients with a full range of tax services but it has a particularly well regarded M&A practice, with Mark Wardle noted by peers for his ability in that area. The firm also has significant capacity in transfer pricing, with 10 partners and more than 100 other fee earners being specialists in that area. The firm this year advised a multinational company on their group royalty strategy relating to its intellectual property. The team involved ensured that the strategy was consistent with the arm's-length principle throughout as well as the OECD principals in Europe and specifications particular to the US. The firm also implemented a model whereby the royalties paid by operating companies were split between the group's brand management entity and its trademark owning entities. In doing so, the firm optimised the group's tax affairs and ensured efficient compliance with applicable transfer pricing regulations.