Structuring European Acquisitions, Reorganizations and Investments - 3rd Edition

No matter what technique you use to expand your operations in Europe -- acquisitions, vendor contracts, mergers, or just plain new facilities -- you subject yourself and your company to a web of complex regulations and tax exposures. To help you navigate these issues, the fully revised third edition of Structuring European Acquisitions, Reorganizations and Investments helps you identify the problems and answers, so that you are not caught in the operational traps so common in the region.

This one-volume special report walks you through the major issues facing corporate expansion in Europe, including:

- Cross-border tax issues
- Take over issues
- Transfer Pricing
- Competition Law Issues
- Corporate Disclosure
- Corporate Structure
- Financial Issues

COVERAGE INCLUDES:

- Overview of Europe’s Current Business Environment and Projections for the Medium- and Long-term
- M&A Regulations, Permanent Establishments (PEs), and Other Corporate Restructuring Topics
- European Court of Justice (ECJ) Decisions Impacting Financial Sectors
- Cross-Border Trade Effects of the Basel II Accord
- Prospects in the European Securitization Markets
- Transfer Pricing, Private Equity, REITs, Licensing, and much more...

Plus, Country-by-Country Analysis of Investment Conditions in:

- Belgium
- Denmark
- France
- Germany
- Hungary
- Italy
- Luxembourg
- Netherlands
- Poland
- Slovakia
- Spain
- Switzerland
- United Kingdom SHOW LESS READ MORE >

REGIONAL OVERVIEW

Overview
New Draft Guidelines Facilitate Acquisitions in Europe
- José Rivas, Bróna Heenan and Yanis Virvilis (McDermott Will & Emery)
European M&A Survey
DLA Piper UK LLP
IP Meets Antitrust: The New European Licensing Regime
- Duncan Curley (McDermott Will & Emery)

Cross-Border Tax Issues
European Private Equity Survey: Tax Is a Key Value Driver for Transactions
- PricewaterhouseCoopers- M&A Tax Services
Table: Tax Opinion Poll
European Court Tax Decisions Could Impact US Taxpayers’ Foreign Tax Credits
- David Rosenbloom (Caplin & Drysdale)
Taxes Play Key Role in Takeover Transactions: From the European Private Equity Survey
- Guido Doeve and Machiel Visser (PricewaterhouseCoopers Belastingadviseurs N.V.)
Finding Transfer Pricing Comparables: Use of “Secret Comparables” in France, Germany and the Netherlands
- Martin Przysuski (BDO Dunwoody, Toronto)
Tax Changes in Benelux to Impact Future of European Capital Makets: A Quick Summary of the Dutch Corporate Tax Reform Provisions
- Derk Prinsen, Nico Blom, Pieter Elias, and Chris Warner (Nautadutilh, Brussels)
Cost Sharing Arrangements between Corporate Headquarters and Branch Office Are Outside the Scope of VAT: Decision Good News for Italian Branches
- Giulio Azzaretto (DLA Piper LLP)

Corporate Disclosure
The EU and IAS 39: The Issues and Uncertainties Relating to Financial Instruments
- Pauline Ashall, Lucy Fergusson and Anthony Fawcett (Linklaters, London)

Corporate Structure
New Directive Removes Obstacles to Cross-Border Fusions of Companies within the EU
- Philip Bentley and Patrice Corbiau (McDermott Will & Emery/Stanbrook LLP)
End of the Golden Age? The European Courts Move to Promote Greater Free Movement of Capital Within the EU by Attacking ‘Golden Share’
- Omar Shah and Scott Campbell (Latham & Watkins)

Financial Services
European Court Deals Blow to Financial Services Outsourcing Sector
- Richard Barrat and Michael Cashman (Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, London)
Basel II: Capital Weighting System to Affect How Companies Finance Cross-Border Trade
- Michael Kenny, Esq. (Watson, Farley & Williams, London)

REITs
REITs in Germany and the UK- A New Exit Opportunity for Real Estate Investors?
- Oliver Felsenstein and Cristoph Kueppers (Lovells)
UK REITs
- Adrian Levy and David Saleh (Clifford Chance)

COUNTRY ANALYSIS

Belgium
Belgium Renovates and Generalizes Coordination Center Regime
- Marc Quaghebeur (Vandendijk & Partners, Brussels)
Table 1: Benefits of a Coordination Center in a Multinational Group
Table: Annual Interest Rate Averages
Table 2: Belgium Coordination Center “New Look” with a Risk Capital Deduction
Table 3: Belgium Financing Company with an Optimized Risk Capital Deduction
Table 4: Belgium Financing Company with a Risk Capital Deduction
Table 5: Belgium Licensing Company with a Risk Capital Deduction of 3.5 Percent
The Gateway between Europe and the Far East
- Marc Quaghebeur (Vandendijk & Partners, Brussels)
Table 1: Tax Efficient Repatriation of Profits from the Far East
Table 2: Tax Efficient Repatriation of Profits from Europe
Table 3: Tax Efficient Financing in Europe
Deduction of Risk Capital Introduced by Belgium
- Howard Liebman and Olivier Rousselle (Jones Day)
Belgium Introduces a New Anti-Abuse Rule Against the Sale of “Cash Companies”
- Alain Huyghe and Benoît Philippart de Foy (Baker & McKenzie)

Denmark
Denmark Tightens Transfer Pricing Law: Changes Focus on Documentation Practices
- Klaus Okholm, Jorgen Juul Andersen, Katrine Drachmann, Christina Lassen, Asger Mosegaard Kelstrup, Jakob Berning, and Kirsten Kamp (PricewaterhouseCoopers)

France
France Reinforces Tax Appeal to International Investors
- Renaud Jouffroy and Guillaume Glon (PricewaterhouseCoopers, Paris and New York)
New French Corporate Tax Rules: Changes Lowering Rates, Affecting Merger Tax Regime
- Dominique Troy (Baker & McKenzie)
New French Tax Regime Applicable to Distributions
- Patrice Couturier and Estelle Dion (Allen & Overy)
Reccent and Major Changes in the French Securitization Legal Framework
- Emmanuelle Leroy (Norton Rose)
French Appellate Court Highlights Importance of European Works Councils in Corporate M&A Transactions
- Bettina B. Plevan, Aaron J. Schindel and Yasmine Tarasewicz (Proskauer Rose LLP)

Germany
Germany Issues New Transfer Pricing Guidelines
- Jobst Wilmanns and Holger Lorenzen (PricewaterhouseCoopers, Frankfurt and Dusseldorf)
Germany Removes Obstacles to Securitization
- Rüdiger Litten and Sever Cristea (Norton Rose)
Changes to Rules on Insider Dealing and Public Disclosure
- Dr. Maria Wolleh (Mannheimer Swartling)
Textbox: Piercing the Corporate Veil to Reach Principle Shareholder
Recent Changes in German Tax Law Affecting Private Equity Fund Partnerships
- Stefan Behrens and Klaus Weinand-Härer (Clifford Chance)
The Long Arm of the German Merger Control Rules: Two Important Developments
- Dr. Jan Heithecker, Dr. Stefan Ohlhoff, Ulrich Quack and Dr. Sven B. Voelcker (Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP)
Cross-Border Mergers: Proposed New Statutory Regime in Germany
- Dr. Klaus J. Müller (Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP)
New Tax Law Makes it Harder for Foreign Companies to Profit from Treaty and EC Directive Benefits: Germany Tightens Anti-Avoidance Rules for Withholding Tax Exemption
- Ingmar Doerr and Daniel Fehling (Lovells)
Safe Harbour for Licensees?
- Tillman de Vries, LL.M. (SJ Berwin)
Cross-Border Mergers: Proposed New Statutory Regime in Germany
- Dr. Klaus J. Müller (Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw LLP)

Hungary
Implementing the European Parent-Subsidiary Directive in Hungary
- Pal Jalsovszky (Linklaters, Budapest)
State Aid and Investment Incentives in Hungary
- Tamás Riesz (Allen & Overy)
A Favorable Holding Location
- Gábor Antal (Linklaters)

Italy
Changing Directors’ Liabilities under the New Italian Company Law
- Oreste Marchini (McDermott Will & Emery/Carnelutti Studio Legale Associato)
Commissionaire Structures With Principals in Low-Tax Jurisdictions: Italian Authorities Apply Anti-Abuse Provision
- Carlo Gnetti and Giuliana Polocco (Baker & McKenzie, Milan)

Luxembourg
New Rules in Luxembourg for “1929 Holding Companies”: Popular Structures for US Companies Affected
- Keith Martin (Chadbourne & Parke LLP)

Netherlands
The Netherlands Narrows Treaty Benefits to Hybrid Entities
- Jurjen Bevers and Paul Kraan (Baker & McKenzie)
The Dutch Move to Strengthen Their Position: No More Capital Tax, a Lower Corporate Rate, and a Withholding Tax Break
- Keith Martin (Chadbourne & Parke, Washington)
New Public Takeover Regime in the Netherlands
- Jan Willem van der Staay and Shawn der Kinderen (Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer)
The Netherlands: EU Parent-Subsidiary and Merger Directives Provide Added Protection for European Companies
- Willem Otterspeer and Jos Hellebrekers (Otterspeer Haasnoot & Partners)
Dutch Clarify Taxation of Loss Absorption Clauses: More Flexibility in Securitization Transactions Offered
- Gesina Van de Wetering and Jelger Buitelaar (Norton Rose, Amsterdam)
New Decree on Dutch Limited Partnerships
- (Commanditaire Vennootschappen) Johan van den Bos, Roderik Rademakers, Maaike Fetter and Emilie Ploeg (Ernst & Young)

Poland
“Tax-Optimized” Compensation Strategies
- Dariusz Tokarczuk and Robert Jederzejczyk (Gide Loyrette Nouel, Warsaw)
State Aid in Poland- Investment Support
- Jacek Jonak and Agnieszka Soltys (Allen & Overy)

Spain
Spanish Venture Capital Entities- An Attractive Vehicle for Spanish and Foreign Private Equity Investments
- Alfonso Padilla (Lovells)
Questions- and Answers- About Buying a Business in Spain
- José A. Sanchez Dafos (DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary)
Update on Spanish Special Holding Companies
- Manel Garcia (Baker & McKenzie)
Spanish “Inbound Managers” Tax Regime
- PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Spanish and International Tax Services T4 eams VAT Grouping Scheme in Spain María Antonia Azpeitia and Andrea García (Baker & McKenzie)

Switzerland
New Legislation Limits Taxation of Private Capital Gains on the Sale of a Company
- Urs Schenker (Baker & McKenzie, Zurich)

United Kingdom
New Disclosure Rules in the UK
- Richard Ufland and Philip Corser (Lovells)
Directors’ Liability in the UK- Are Your Directors Sufficiently Protected?
- Roger Moore and David Pudge (Clifford Chance)
The Companies Act 2006 - General Duties of Directors
- Mark Henrick and Daragh McDonald (Baker & McKenzie)
Simplified UK Tax Regime for Securitization Companies
- Sue Porter (Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer)
Investor Rights Under the United Kingdom’s Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements
- Stephen Fietta (Latham & Watkins)