For businesses that are involved in mergers and acquisitions, good tax insight is essential for achieving maximum benefit and ensuring that tax advantages (such as tax losses and reserves) are fully utilised. It is also important that the costs of any acquisition are treated in a tax-efficient manner and that the interest on any financing is tax deductible subsequently.

The tax component is an important aspect of every merger or acquisition, before, during as well as after the transaction. It is therefore essential to obtain specialised tax advice in good time.

The structure and the manner in which the merger or acquisition takes place can have an impact on determining the pricing, and hence also on your negotiating position and the financing. You need to have a clear picture in advance of the future combined enterprise and how it will function.

Fisconti advises companies at every stage of a merger or acquisition. Our consultancy includes the following aspects, for example:

• • preparing your current structure for a (possible) merger or acquisition. Is your current structure suited to this, or are changes needed before it can be transacted? We can identify the possibilities and, if changes are needed, we can help you to achieve the flexibility you require.

• • determining the ways in which a proposed merger or acquisition can be shaped from a tax perspective. Will the transaction involve the transfer of assets and liabilies, or shares? How will the transaction be financed? Are different countries involved? Structuring a merger or acquisition optimally from a tax viewpoint can save you a lot of tax during as well as after the transaction. Together with our international network, we can provide you with assistance and advice for domestic as well as cross-border mergers.

• once the merger or acquisition has taken place, we advise you on the best way of integrating the business activities, nationally as well as internationally. How can you create an optimum structure from a tax perspective, without incurring a tax liability when implementing it? Together with the company, we make an inventory of the tax opportunities that arise as a result of the initiatives for achieving synergies. We help you to realise maximum benefit from the merger or acquisition.