Corporate Tax 2019

Overview of corporate tax work over last year

Types of corporate tax work

M&A

The amount of outbound and inbound M&A transactions continued to grow in 2018. The record-breaking 493 transactions involving Swiss companies and investors were reported with a transaction value amounting to USD 132.9bn. 2018 also saw an increasing number of transactions involving private equity funds, with the deal value increasing by 97%. The key transactions include the sale by ABB Ltd of its power grids business to Hitachi for USD 11bn and the acquisition by Worldline SA of SIX Payment Services for USD 2.9bn as part of their cooperation strategy. On the private equity side, the acquisition by Partners Group (Zug) together with Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec (Quebec City) and Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (Toronto) of the German Techem for USD 5.4bn stands out.¹ For the current year, it is assumed that M&A activity will remain strong.