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The in-house tax team will typically have a close involvement in acquisitions, most obviously conducting due diligence to assess any exposure to tax risk in target companies, supporting the negotiation and arranging W&I insurance to cover any residual risks that might remain hidden. Additionally, tax teams will advise on options for structuring acquisitions, taking into consideration tax impacts, and be involved from a tax perspective in the integration of the target post-acquisition. Tax teams can also be well-placed to leverage their expertise and knowledge across groups to add further value not directly related to tax, including structuring internal financing to mirror external repayment obligations.

At this roundtable attendees will hear recent experiences of in-house tax directors' involvement in M&A transactions and explore the opportunities for the tax team to add value in areas of corporate strategy, local and international tax planning, and developing capital structures for acquisition vehicles. We will focus on the typical model for acquisitions at Ardonagh, a large, PE-backed global insurance broking businesses, that has grown rapidly through multiple acquisitions. By contrast, M&A activity at M&G, the FTSE 100 savings and investment group, has historically been limited but in recent years has accelerated with targeted acquisitions to deepen capabilities and accelerate growth. What are the lessons for the tax team from its recent experiences?