Biography
Oliver advises clients on tax issues principally relating to corporate transactions, with particular focus on:
- private equity and general corporate M&A transactions and reorganisations;
- corporate restructurings;
- complex equity incentive arrangements;
- finance arrangements, debt and equity capital markets; and
- VAT planning.
Oliver is also regularly involved in tax cases before the English and European Courts, and led the tax aspects of various landmark cases, including Littlewoods v HMRC, one of the largest money judgements in English history.
Oliver is recommended for Corporate Tax and Tax Litigation by Legal 500 UK, where he is noted for his “extensive experience in handling a broad range of transactions in the corporate M&A and private equity space” and described as being “thoughtful and responsive”.
Representative experience includes advising:
- Advent International on numerous transactions, including recently on:
- the acquisition of myPOS World Ltd;
- the sale of Tag Worldwide Holdings Ltd;
- portfolio company Al Mansart Bidco S.C.S.’ acquisition of Artessence FZE and Euro Parfums FZC;
- the acquisition of a co-controlling stake in Planet Payment Group;
- the acquisition of Hoist Group;
- portfolio company Laird on the carve-out and sale of its
- Connectivity division;
- Performance Materials division to DuPont for $2.3bn; and
- Thermal Systems divisions to Bregal
- portfolio company Cobham on the carve-out and sale of its:
- Mission Systems division to Eaton Corporation plc for $2.83bn;
- Aerospace Connectivity division to TransDigm Group Inc. for $965m;
- Aviation Services UK division to Draken International (a portfolio company of Blackstone);
- Slip Rings division to Naxicap; and
- Microwave division to FCDE
- portfolio company Transaction Services Group on the merger with Clearent (also a portfolio company of Advent International) to form Xplor Technologies
- Bain Capital on a number of transactions, including recently on:
- the acquisition of Valeo Foods;
- the acquisition of a 60% stake in Kantar Media from WPP plc;
- the take-private of esure Group plc; and
- portfolio company Kantar on the:
- acquisition of Numerator from Vista Equity Partners;
- the carve-out and sale of its Health division to Cerner Corporation; and
- various standalone tax matters
- Global Infrastructure Partners on the sale of a 50.01% stake in Edinburgh Airport to VINCI Airports for £1.27 billion
- A&M Capital Europe in its acquisition of a majority stake in GBUK Group Ltd and its acquisition of IB Group Ltd
- Brookfield in relation to the sale of Westinghouse Electric Company
- CVC Capital Partners on the acquisition of RiverStone Europe from Fairfax Financial Holdings Limited
- General Atlantic on: the acquisition and sale of MeteoGroup; its investment in FNZ; and on its exit from Axel Springer Digital Classified; portfolio company Hyperion Insurance Group on its acquisition of RK Harrison and subsequently Hyperion on the $400m investment by CDPQ; and Depop and its selling shareholders on the sale of the company to Etsy for $1.625 billion
- Howden Group (formerly Hyperion Insurance Group) on: its acquisitions of A Plan and RK Harrison; the investments by CDPQ and Hg Saturn in Howden Group; and most recently on its acquisition of Aston Lark
- OMERS Private Equity on a number of transactions, including recently on: the acquisition, with Partners Group, of International Schools Partnership; acquisition of V.Group and subsequent sale; the acquisition and subsequent sale of Civica; the sale by Hayfin Capital Management of certain assets to The Future Fund; and on the acquisition of Alexander Mann Solutions
- Providence Equity on numerous European transactions, including recently on: its recommended cash offer for Hyve Group; its acquisition of Node4 Group; as selling shareholder and consortium member in the consortium's take-private of Masmovil Ibercom; and its acquisition of the shares in marketing services company Chime which were held by its co-investor WPP Group
- PSG on its acquisition of Sign In App
- PSP on a number of transactions, including recently on: its sale of Nalanda Global, S.A.; its sale of Nomentia Oy; portfolio company Shieldco’s acquisition of 10to8; the consortium acquisition of Nestlé Skin Health; its consortium acquisition of Axel Springer; its acquisitions of Keter Plastics and Azelis; and on the sale of Sky Aviation Leasing
- Securitas Direct and its core management team in connection with the restructuring of management’s equity following the acquisition of Bain’s interest in the group by Hellman & Friedman
- Sun European Partners on a number of transactions, including recently on: its sale of Tet Topco Limited; its sale of Adler and Allan; the acquisition of Sports & Leisure Group and on its sale of C&K Components to Littelfuse Inc.
- the seller of the iconic Ritz hotel in London
- VINCI on the acquisition of Gatwick Airport
Firm News & Announcements, Latest Thinking
Firm News & Announcements
- Weil Advises NWS Holdings and Unitas Capital in the Sale of Hyva Deal Brief — October 15, 2024
- Weil Advises AMC in Major Liability Management Refinancing Transactions to Extend Up To $2.45 Billion of Debt Maturities Deal Brief — July 24, 2024
Latest Thinking
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The enterprise investment scheme: current state of play
Blog Post — Tax Blog
— By
Oliver Walker and
Stuart Pibworth
— November 28, 2024
This article first appeared in the December 2024 issue of PLC Magazine https://uk.practicallaw.thomsonreuters.com/Browse/Home/Resources/PLCMagazine Investment in business has seldom been more topical. The new government has made clear its intention to restore economic growth, signalled by its inaugural International Investment Summit that took place in October 2024. The Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and Seed Enterprise Investment
The post The enterprise investment scheme: current state of play appeared first on Weil Tax BLOG.
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Out of the Ordinary: HMRC updates its guidance on the meaning of “ordinary share capital”
Blog Post — Tax Blog
— By
Oliver Walker and
Sean Wright
— November 06, 2024
On 29 October 2024, HMRC updated its guidance on the meaning of “ordinary share capital” (OSC) in order to exclude non-cumulative fixed rate shares from the definition. The update follows a request for clarification from the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT). In their response, HMRC confirmed their view that “whether a dividend is cumulative or not
The post Out of the Ordinary: HMRC updates its guidance on the meaning of “ordinary share capital” appeared first on Weil Tax BLOG.
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UK Autumn Budget 2024: Tax Update
Blog Post — Tax Blog
— By
Jenny Doak,
Aron Joy,
Oliver Walker,
Erica Rees,
Ellie Marques,
Daniella Abel,
Kevin Donegan,
Lizl Loubser,
Anna Ritchie and
Sean Wright
— October 30, 2024
On 30 October 2024, Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivered her highly anticipated Autumn Budget, marking not only the Chancellor’s first budget (and indeed the first budget ever delivered by a female Chancellor) but also the first Labour budget in 14 years. It is fair to say that the past few weeks and months have been full
The post UK Autumn Budget 2024: Tax Update appeared first on Weil Tax BLOG.
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Private Equity Outlook: Taxation of UK MIPs following the UK Government Autumn Budget
Blog Post — Tax Blog
— By
Oliver Walker,
Kevin Donegan and
Lizl Loubser
— October 30, 2024
Today, Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, delivered the 2024 Autumn Budget, the new Labour government’s first following their election to office in July. Among various other changes related to business taxation, Ms Reeves announced that the top rate of capital gains tax (CGT) that applies to the sale of shares would rise from
The post Private Equity Outlook: Taxation of UK MIPs following the UK Government Autumn Budget appeared first on Weil Tax BLOG.
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Trading Places: Is your trading company “open for business”?
Blog Post — Tax Blog
— By
Oliver Walker and
Stuart Pibworth
— October 14, 2024
The Enterprise Investment Scheme (“EIS”) is designed to encourage investment in certain early stage UK businesses by offering individual investors both income tax and capital gains tax reliefs. Another, similar scheme – the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (“SEIS”) – is targeted at encouraging investment in start-up businesses. Given the potential to attract greater investment as a
The post Trading Places: Is your trading company “open for business”? appeared first on Weil Tax BLOG.
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