At DLA Piper, the Birmingham tax practice has particular strength in the fields of real estate structuring and corporate reorganisations. Mark Burgess is extensively experienced in matters of national and international significance; he leads the firm’s international tax structuring group. Senior associate Nick Hinton is carving out a prominent reputation for his work on M&A transactions and employee incentive share option arrangements.
Corporate tax in West Midlands
DLA Piper
Practice head(s):
Mark Burgess
Other key lawyers:
Nick Hinton
Testimonials
‘Mark Burgess is a brilliant, authoritative tax lawyer who makes the complex seem simple.’
Key clients
John Lewis Partnership Pension Fund
Prologis
MKS Instruments, Inc
NatWest Group
Universities Superannuation Scheme
Dignity plc
Harrison Street
Aviva
AXA
Sytner Group
Work highlights
- Acting for AXA IM on the purchase of Dolphin Square, a very substantial PRS asset in London.
- Advised Prologis on the disposal of a logistics portfolio, the largest sale of logistics real estate assets on record in the UK.
- Acting for Oval Real Estate on the acquisition of No. 1 Colmore Square, Birmingham, one of Birmingham’s trophy office assets.
DWF
The key pillars of DWF’s tax workload in the West Midlands are M&A, share schemes, private equity and a wealth of transactions referred from London, both national and international. Jon Stevens, a lawyer thoroughly experienced in real estate funds and cross-border M&A, is the key name locally and also spearheads the firm’s national practice; he is supported in Birmingham by associate Deborah Payne who has assumed the responsibility of developing the group’s share scheme practice.
Practice head(s):
Jon Stevens
Other key lawyers:
Deborah Payne
Testimonials
‘Excellent property tax knowledge, cutting edge in some areas.’
‘Jon Stevens is an exceptional lawyer, combing experience and knowledge with practicality.’
‘Jon Stevens is an extremely strong and clear advisor, with extremely timely advice.’
‘Ability to relay complicated issues in a very concise, clear and logical manner. ’
Key clients
London Luton Hotel BPRA Property Fund LLP
LXi REIT PLC
Home REIT PLC
Future Planet Capital UK Limited
Cordia Management Kft
Birmingham City Council
Whitbread Group PLC
Keywords UK Holdings Limited
Randal and Quilter Limited
The Freehold Corporation
Work highlights
- Advised London Luton Hotel BPRA Property Fund LLP on the cross appeals on the FTT’s decision in London Luton Hotel BPRA Fund LLP v HMRC, which was heard in November 2020.
- Acted for Cordia Management Kft on the multi-million pound acquisition of Birmingham-based, PRS-specialist developer Blackswan Property Limited.
- Advised Home REIT PLC on significant and complex real estate transactions, often exceeding £10m per transaction.
Gowling WLG
Gowling WLG is best-known for its work on multi-jurisdictional projects and reorganisations. Practice head Lee Nuttall’s practice spans the full range of commercial taxation affairs including a distinguished level of expertise in tax efficient designs for private investment funds. He is supported by Zoe Fatchen, a specialist in private equity investment structuring, equity-based incentives and tax disputes, as well as real estate tax lawyer Chris Nyland, particularly adept in SDLT and VAT matters. Clients include local, London-based and international private equity investors, private and listed funds and major corporates, among others.
Practice head(s):
Lee Nuttall
Other key lawyers:
Zoe Fatchen; Chris Nyland
Key clients
Segro
Universities Superannuation Scheme
Osborn+Co
St Modwen
Williams F1
NFU Mutual
Lloyds Development Capital
USS
M Group Holdings
Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games
Work highlights
- Advised Segro on the tax aspects the £202.5m acquisition of Perivale Park and the £32.5m acquisition of Perth Trading Estate.
- Advised the Universities Superannuation Scheme on tax aspects of the forward funding of a 1600-space car park, for University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust which will include 34 active Electric Vehicle charging spaces and 46 passive charging spaces, 34 motorcycle parking spaces and 160 bicycle parking spaces.
- Advised Osborne+Co on the tax aspects of the development of a new 500,000 sq. ft. office campus for Santander UK at Milton Keynes.
Parisi Tax LLP
Parisi Tax LLP, ‘an elite boutique tax firm’, is jointly led by Lisa Stevenson and Becky Rees; the former is a star name for the tax aspects of M&A, private equity and group reorganisations while the latter counts debt restructurings, employment-related securities and the implementation of executive share incentive plans among her core strengths. The pair are praised as ‘excellent lawyers, at the top of their game’, as are Jon Robinson and Patrick Allan who provide the team with property-related tax expertise, working on matters such as SDLT, VAT and stamp tax considerations, as well as management share incentive structures. The group deliberately targets smaller businesses and start-ups, in addition to larger corporates, and has worked on a large number of EIS and SEIS incentive matters over the past 12 months.
Practice head(s):
Lisa Stevenson; Becky Rees
Other key lawyers:
Jon Robinson; Patrick Allan
Testimonials
‘The Parisi Tax team are approachable, pragmatic and commercial and present complex information logically and clearly with appropriate use of scenarios and practical examples; this is especially helpful because they work with several members of our team who are not finance, tax or legal specialists.’
‘Becky Rees is approachable and extremely knowledgeable.’
‘Parisi have the strength and depth to undertake the most complex tax queries we encounter and we appreciate their reliable expertise, commerciality and availability. They have worked closely with us on many transactions this year and they are our go to, in house/out house tax team. Invaluable.’
‘Jon Robinson is our main contact day to day. He is all the reliable, commercial and always available when you need him. We really value his contribution to our real estate offer across the team. Needless to say the expertise is a given and he always has an answer.’
‘We have outsourced some of our tax work over the past 12 months particularly for complicated assignments or during times of peak work volumes. Parisi have then become a part of our deal teams and have collaborated well our clients and contacts to achieve solutions to any problems that have arisen.’
‘Becky Rees consistently delivers work within timeframes in a concise, commercial and approachable manner. Highly recommended.’
‘Our work was with Lisa Stevenson; she is very able and pragmatic.’
‘As a bespoke tax team they are incredibly experienced and knowledgeable about what they do. As a firm with limited overheads they are also very cost effective. But for me thing that stands out most is their responsiveness and commerciality. They are very user friendly tax lawyers. They don’t go into immense amounts of detail on tax legislation but just give you a straight, well thought through and commercial response.’
Key clients
Festicket Limited
Incopro Limited
Bethnal Green Ventures
Aeriandi Limited and shareholders
Markerstudy
Vivid Economics Limited
Graceblue Partnership Ltd
Gordons LLP
Avalon UK Limited (acting through Marriott Harrison)
Work highlights
- Acted for Avalon on the acquisition of The Agency (London) Limited, which represents many high profile actors.
- Acted for Aeriandi and its shareholders on the sale to Australian listed Dubber for up to A$38m.
- Advised Markerstudy on the tax aspects of the transaction documents relating to its acquisition of companies from the Co-op.
Browne Jacobson LLP
Browne Jacobson LLP's team handles a broad variety of tax matters; supporting corporates on major M&A transactions, including those with a cross-border elements, while also acting for retailers, investors and developers on the pertinent aspects of property deals, including SDLT and VAT advice. Practice head Andrew Noble, notably a qualified charted tax advisor, is also a specialist in respect of employee and management share incentive schemes and regularly caters to local authorities and schools, among other public sector and not-for-profit entities, on matters such as public-private joint venture tax issues. Other fields of activity include EIS and SEIS work for start-up companies and tax disputes stemming from corporate transactions.
Practice head(s):
Andrew Noble
Testimonials
‘The Browne Jacobson team has always been very responsive when we have had UK corporation tax queries in connection with property matters. They explain difficult issues in a clear and concise manner enabling decisions to be made with confidence.’
‘The whole team is responsive – there is always someone there to assist or ensure that the query is passed quickly to the relevant team, and we have been pleased not to have been inundated with compliance paperwork for every instruction given.’
Key clients
Addo Food Group
Apiary Capital
CARE Fertility
Clydesdale Bank plc
Folkestone & Hythe District Council
Homes & Communities Agency
Lloyds Development Capital
Pure Gym
Santander UK plc
Wilkos
Work highlights
- Advised the selling shareholders of Addo Food Group on its disposal to European private equity firm PAI Partners.
- Advising Folkestone & Hythe District Council on initial stages of a new town development on the south coast of England.
- Acted for Pure Gym on the acquisition of Fitness World including the acquisition of Danish, Swiss and Polish entities.
Mills & Reeve LLP
Mills & Reeve LLP's tax practice advises on a wealth of matters including M&A and banking transactions, employment-related tax matters and property tax structuring. The team is particularly active in the education, sports, charities and not-for-profits sectors and is co-led by Neil Pearson, a specialist in venture capital, social investment and employee share ownership matters. Dual-qualified charted tax adviser Kevin Lowe is Pearson’s co-head and also fronts the firm’s corporate and commercial group.
Practice head(s):
Neil Pearson; Kevin Lowe
Other key lawyers:
Carrie Ferris
Key clients
Wilmington
F-Star Therapeutics
(Sellers of) Hush Homewear
Randall & Quilter
Delta Financial Systems
Big Society Capital
IQ Capital Partners
Resonance
BAE Systems
Baxter Healthcare
Work highlights
- Advised fashion label Hush on the tax aspects of a major investment into the company by private equity investor True Capital.
- Advised F-Star Therapeutics on aspects of its NASDAQ float, including the treatment of various share incentive schemes, and how to extend the terms of the acquisition to holders of share incentives.
- Provided M&A tax advice and share scheme support to Delta Financial Systems.
Higgs LLP
At Higgs LLP, practice head Susheel Gupta is the key contact at partner-level; he is an expert in representing owner-managed businesses and is particularly knowledgeable of tax planning structures, contentious corporate reconstruction matters and employee incentive schemes. At the more junior end, Craig Thomas supports on capital gains, income and corporation tax matters while Jonathan Hunter is developing a reputation for his corporate restructuring work.
Practice head(s):
Susheel Gupta
Other key lawyers:
Craig Thomas; Jonathan Hunter
Key clients
La Maison Bleue SAS
TEW Software Solutions Limited
Shareholders of Repacq Investments Limited
Formbend Limited
Technology Blueprint Limited
Elta Group
Seabridge Developments Limited
Shareholder of Donalds Limited
Neo Granite Group Limited
Shareholders of Dunsby Associates Limited
Shareholders of Shareco 4 Limited
Work highlights
- Advised the shareholders of Repacq Investments Limited of the pre-sale restructure to the group, obtaining tax clearance and implementation before structuring the sale. After the sale the team advised on implementing family investment companies and personal investment companies for the shareholders.
- Acted for TEW Software Solutions Limited, successfully appealing to the First Tier Tax Tribunal (on the interpretation of tax legislation) to introduce a personal investment company as a shareholder to the company.
- Continuing to help support and provide tax assistance and advice to La Maison Bleue SAS on its UK structure and UK acquisitions.