Key tax aspects of the mergers and acquisitions market: the essential guide
The figures on the mergers and acquisitions registered in Spain in 2013 were recently unveiled. According to a report published by the consultancy firm TTR, the deals recorded over the course of this past year were up 8% on 2012, although investment fell by half. The services and technology industries were among the most active, while the biggest deals came in the financial sector, due to bank reorganization and restructuring processes.
Such a dynamic, fast-paced market calls for constant monitoring in order to keep track of the latest repercussions and implications of an array of factors, not only in Spain but also at a global level. With this in mind, Garrigues, as a founding firm of Taxand, contributes every year to the preparation of the Taxand Global Guide to M&A Tax.
This guide aims to tackle the key tax-related issues affecting corporate M&A transactions in 35 countries, identifying and delving into the most relevant practical matters to be borne in mind in these complex processes.
Despite the economic and political uncertainty facing investors, 2013 saw an upswing in the global M&A markets, a trend that looks all set to continue this year. With interest rates at an all-time low, companies and financial institutions now have liquidity and finance is increasingly easier to come by if the deal is right. These signs of recovery are also beginning to emerge in the Spanish market, where the outlook for the transactions under analysis looks brighter than it has in recent years.
Against this backdrop of uncertainty, in which legislative changes are a constant, this guide offers an essential tool with which to identify the key tax-related aspects deriving from share or asset acquisitions, from the standpoint of both investors and vendors, while also, in particular, tackling all those issues with a bearing on the decisions taken by investors (finance structure, restrictions on the tax deductibility of acquisition costs, amortization of goodwill, restrictions on setting off tax assets after acquisitions, taxation of corporate reorganizations, taxation of divestments, etc.).
Garrigues Tax Department
