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Although making predictions is fraught with danger at the best of times - let alone during a global pandemic – here are three property-related tax announcements we would not be surprised to hear on 3 March.
Travers Smith LLP is delighted to have been the corporate partner for the human rights charity JUSTICE on the production of Tackling Racial Injustice: Children and the Youth Justice System, a report on racial disparities of children in the youth justice system.
Travers Smith LLP has advised the Royal Bank of Scotland International Luxembourg (RBSI Luxembourg) on a new €300m subscription line made available to NREP Income+ Fund, a fund managed by NREP, the leading real estate investor and innovator in the Nordics.
Whatever the Chancellor announces in his forthcoming Budget, employee share plans will continue to play an important role as companies move forward from the Covid-19 pandemic. The tax-advantages that share-based awards can enjoy are a key feature, however, equally important is the impact that share-ownership can have on boosting employee morale, motivation and aligning their interests with other investors.
Travers Smith LLP has advised Symphony Technology Group ("STG") on the sale of STG’s investment in System C, the UK's leading health and social care software and services provider working in partnership with the NHS and social services, to CVC Capital Partners. It has also advised STG on the sale of a minority investment in Graphnet Health.
With the number of articles speculating on a potential increase in corporation tax or CGT rates, or the implementation of a wealth tax, it is easy to overlook possible changes to the tax compliance and enforcement landscape. However, given the number of new measures announced in the past year as part of the fiscal stimulus package to support the economy, and a tax gap of 4.7% of tax liabilities, it is also likely that the government will continue the development of its proposals to tackle tax evasion, tax avoidance and tax non-compliance.
Early this month, the Court of Appeal handed down an important judgment in Phones 4U Ltd v EE Ltd and Others ("Phones 4U"). The judgment results from an appeal by the defendant mobile network operators of a disclosure order requiring them to request their senior executives to hand over personal devices so that they could be searched by independent IT consultants for documents relevant to the case. The judgment illustrates how the courts will balance the need to ensure disclosure of relevant documents in court proceedings against individuals' rights to privacy, and emphasises the considerable latitude the courts have in crafting orders for disclosure.
Travers Smith LLP has advised long-standing client Medicxi on the formation of Centessa Pharmaceuticals, a new kind of pharmaceutical company founded by Medicxi to improve R&D productivity by delivering asset-centric drug development at scale.
The EU's top court has recently confirmed that a financial investor can be liable for a competition infringement of its investee company regardless of whether or not the investor is aware of that company's anticompetitive behaviour. In so doing, it has also clarified when the European Commission can presume an investor to be parentally liable for its investee company without considering further the level of control that investor in fact exercises – holding all the voting rights in a company is sufficient, even if the investor does not hold all of the capital.
Travers Smith LLP has advised Paragon Bank plc (Paragon) and Silicon Valley Bank UK Branch (SVB) on the refinancing of a senior debt facility provided to Liberis, a leader in embedded finance solutions. The transaction included bringing SVB into a senior lender group that also includes British Business Investments and marks the first time that our Finance Group has advised long-term client SVB in the speciality finance space.
Travers Smith LLP has advised its long-standing client Ascential, the specialist information, data and analytics company, on the disposal of its Built Environment & Policy (BEP) segment, comprising three brands - Glenigan, Groundsure and DeHavilland.
The NSI Bill will broaden the range of investments which can be reviewed by the UK government, and introduce a statutory requirement for parties to notify transactions in the most sensitive areas of the economy. Alongside a mandatory notification requirement, the government will also have a more extensive "call-in" power to enable it to assess deals which may give rise to national security risks.
In the face of mounting pressure, the government, on 10 February, announced a 5 point plan for investment in building safety, with a further £3.5 billion earmarked for the removal of unsafe cladding.
Deal-makers on cross-border transactions now need to think about UK merger control more often. Save for in a small number of cases formally initiated by the European Commission before the end of 2020, the UK Competition and Markets Authority ("CMA") is now unshackled from the "one-stop shop" of the EU merger control regime, able to pursue its own merger control investigations into international transactions in parallel with those of other authorities.
In the years leading up to Brexit, both the UK and the EU had been busy developing sustainability policy and legislation. Now the UK has left the EU, it remains committed to being at the forefront of the sustainable finance agenda.
Since the end of the transition period on 31 December 2020, there have been numerous reports of businesses struggling to deliver goods and even halting deliveries to customers in Northern Ireland. Why is Northern Ireland in this difficult position despite remaining a part of the UK following Brexit? Laura Hodgson, Knowledge Counsel, discusses the newly in force Northern Ireland Protocol, agreed as part of the Withdrawal Agreement in 2019, and the VAT and custom duty charges on goods entering Northern Ireland from other parts of the UK.
Part 36 of the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) aims to encourage parties to try to settle their disputes and sets out the costs consequences of offers to settle made in accordance with Part 36. If a party fails to accept a realistic offer made by the other side, there is a risk of penalised costs and interest at the end of the case.
Throughout January, papers and media websites were full of stories about people being asked to pay large and unexpected tax and custom duties charges on the arrival of goods from the EU. So, what is this so-called Brexit tax and why is it being charged when the UK and EU have agreed a zero tariff Brexit deal?
The Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) signed by the UK and EU in December 2020 contains a number of provisions which may constrain the UK's scope to make changes to employment law. In practice, how significant could these constraints prove to be?
BNP Paribas, the largest bank in France, has announced today that it will no longer finance firms who produce, or buy, beef or soybeans from land in the Amazon that was cleared or converted after 2008 (and will encourage its clients not to produce or buy beef or soybeans from cleared or converted land in the Cerrado after 1 January 2020).