Avocado Roundup is a quick morning review of top tax, legal, and climate news stories. It’s written by humans.
- A delegation from the US House of Representatives’ tax-writing group is in Paris this weekend to tell the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the French government that the Republican-controlled House opposes the OECD-brokered global minimum corporate tax. The group is also headed to Berlin to convey the same warning to the German government. (WSJ)
- French online bank Boursorama got a formal warning from the country’s data-protection watch dog to cease its practice of asking certain customers for passwords to their government tax accounts. The bank said the practice allowed it to more quickly verify customers’ tax documents to approve their applications for consumer loans. (Le Parisien)
- India’s Central Board of Direct Taxes latest annual report on its advanced pricing agreement program says the decade-old program helps the government’s goal of promoting ease of doing business in the country. It said the 421 APAs entered into by the board demonstrate its acceptance by taxpayers and professionals. (IncomeTaxIndia.gov)
- Property taxes are exploding in France, as local governments, among other reasons, seek to offset the Macron government’s elimination of the residence tax for primary residences. (Moneyvox.fr)
- A former Utah movie producer was charged with tax evasion and obstructing the Internal Revenue Service. (Justice.gov)
- Mayer Brown advised software and supply chain management company ByBox, a portfolio company of private equity client Francisco Partners, on tax and other aspects of its acquisition of Pelipod Limited, a specialist in secure remote locker storage solutions for field engineers. UK firm Addleshaw Goddard advised the seller, BT Group.
(MayerBrown.com) (AddleshawGoddard.com)
- UK elite law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer advised Hong Kong’s first-ever special purpose acquisition company, Aquila Acquisition Corporation, on its initial public offering and recent merger with Chinese steel platform ZG Group. (Freshfields.com) The deal reportedly values the merged company at 10 billion Hong Kong dollars ($1.27 billion). (MarketWatch) Kirkland & Ellis, Allen & Overy, Canadian firm Maples, and two Chinese firms are also advising in the transaction. (Hong Kong Stock Exchange) (Law.com)
- Sheppard Mullin launched a multi-disciplinary artificial intelligence team with more than 110 attorneys worldwide.
(Sheppard Mullin)
