RPC

Corporate (tax)

Ben leads the transactional tax team and is a partner in the RPC Corporate group. He is an expert in all manner of corporate tax matters, and regularly advises on mergers and acquisitions and corporate reorganisations. His specialities include stamp duty, stamp duty land tax, VAT, share schemes, W&I insurance, and tax liability insurance. Ben acts for a wide range of clients, including companies of all sizes, W&I insurers, and high-net-worth individuals, who he advises on the UK tax treatment of their investments.

Publications

Collective Investment Schemes (looseleaf) tax chapter (Thomson Reuters/Sweet & Maxwell)

Work highlights

Advised Aviva on its acquisition of Lloyd’s insurer Probitas for £242m, including on all aspects of the (multiple) sale agreement tax provisions, the tax aspects of W&I insurance; and the share options arrangements.

Advised the shareholders of Wireless Social, a leading provider of guest Wi-Fi, analytics and marketing solutions to the UK hospitality sector as it becomes part of Access Hospitality, a division of The Access Group. Ben drafted and negotiated all tax clauses in the legal documents, in particular the tax warranties, indemnities, and provisions dealing with the tax treatment of share options.

Advised WaveOptics on its sale to Snap Inc., a transaction valued in excess of US$500m. Ben advised on all aspects of the tax legal drafting, and provided share options-related tax advice.

Providing tax structuring advice to management sellers on the insurance sector investment by Preservation Capital Partners in MGA Cove Programs.

In connection with the announced IPO of London Innovation Underwriters, initially seeking to raise £500m to fund a portfolio across Lloyd's, preparing a suite of documents for the implementation of various tax-advantaged employee incentive and other long-term incentive arrangements.

International Fiscal Association

Co-head of the TerraLex Tax & Wealth Services Practice Group.