Biography

Oliver advises clients on tax issues principally relating to corporate transactions, with particular focus on:
- providing tax and structuring advice in relation to private equity and general corporate M&A transactions and reorganisations;
- designing and advising on complex equity incentive arrangements;
- advising on tax provisions of acquisition finance agreements; and
- providing VAT advice.
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 described as being “thoughtful and responsive”.
Representative experience includes advising:
- Montagu Private Equity on the acquisition of OASIS Group, a leading records and information management company in Europe
- OMERS on the sale of Civica group to Partners Group
- Busy Bees Nursery Group in its acquisition of Treetops Nurseries Limited from Electra Private Equity, having advised Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board in its acquisition of Busy Bees Childcare from Knowledge Universe Education
- OMERS Private Equity in its sale of V.Group to an affiliate of Advent International
- Advent International Corporation in its acquisition of Brammer plc
- Oaktree Capital Management in the sale of the UK operations of Fitness First Limited to Dave Whelan Sports, and in the merger of Fitness First Asia with Celebrity Fitness
- Technology Crossover Ventures in its acquisition of Retail Merchant Services (RMS) from RMS’ founder and management who remain shareholders
- HgCapital in its acquisition of Citation from ECI Partners
- GHO Capital Partners in its acquisition of Visufarma and the European commercial operations of Nicox
- Public Sector Pension Investment Board, along with BC Partners, in the acquisition of Keter Plastic
- 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
- Shop Direct with respect to the design and implementation of bespoke compensation packages for key personnel
- Blackstone with respect to designing complex incentive arrangements for certain key managers
Latest Thinking, Firm News & Announcements
Latest Thinking
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DAC6: Significantly Limited Scope in the UK post-Brexit
Blog Post — Tax Blog
— By
Jenny Doak,
Oliver Walker,
Aron Joy and
Akash Mehta
— December 31, 2020
UK Government published regulations dramatically reducing the scope of DAC6. DAC6 will, from today, mostly cease to apply in the UK. ...
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The Finance Act 2020: Provisions for Joint and Several Tax Liability for Directors, Managers, Shareholders and Lenders
Blog Post — Tax Blog
— By
Oliver Walker,
Natasha Ayres and
Ellie Marques
— August 07, 2020
The Finance Act 2020 provides that directors, managers, shareholders, lenders and others can be made jointly and severally liable for the outstanding tax debts of insolvent (or potentially insolvent) companies and limited liability partnerships (LLPs). From 22 July, officers of HMRC may, if they consider the various conditions are met, issue a notice to directors
The post The Finance Act 2020: Provisions for Joint and Several Tax Liability for Directors, Managers, Shareholders and Lenders appeared first on Weil Tax BLOG.
... -
Mini-Budget 2020: Stamp Duty and VAT Announcements
Blog Post — Tax Blog
— By
Jenny Doak,
Aron Joy,
Oliver Walker and
Ellie Marques
— July 08, 2020
The UK Chancellor announced a number of measures today (8 July 2020) to boost the economy in the wake of the coronavirus lockdown. These included two tax cuts to VAT and stamp duty in an attempt to get the hospitality and housing sectors “bustling again”. VAT will be cut from 20% to 5% for the
The post Mini-Budget 2020: Stamp Duty and VAT Announcements appeared first on Weil Tax BLOG.
... -
COVID-19 Impact on Corporate Tax Residence and Substance: Investment Funds and Multinationals
Blog Post — Tax Blog
— By
Aron Joy,
Jenny Doak,
Oliver Walker and
Stuart Pibworth
— March 31, 2020
Snapshot Travel restrictions and social distancing measures imposed as a result of the crisis mean that non-UK companies are at risk of becoming tax resident in the UK or breaching substance requirements if board meetings are held or decisions taken without careful forethought. This could have long term consequences. Similar issues were encountered, albeit on […] ...
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Brave New World: HMRC Implements Temporary Electronic Submission for Stamp Duty Applications
Blog Post — Tax Blog
— By
Jenny Doak,
Oliver Walker,
Aron Joy and
Akash Mehta
— March 27, 2020
On 25 March 2020, HMRC announced that stock transfer forms and other transfer instruments should no longer be posted to the HMRC Stamp Office, due to COVID-19 measures. Effective immediately, all documents for stamping should be submitted electronically, together with scans of the instruments to be stamped and details of the transaction and electronic payment. […] ...
Firm News & Announcements
- Weil Advises a Consortium Led by Terra Firma on the Sale of Parmaco Deal Brief — February 25, 2021
- Weil Advises Odeon Group on Securing New Financing Deal Brief — February 24, 2021