Our role
PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) were appointed to perform a tax due diligence exercise on an Australian company being targeted for acquisition by our client.
The outcome
In the course of our work for our client, an Australian company, PwC identified that the target company was in the midst of a long-running dispute with the Australian Taxation Office. The potential liability was significant - approximately 25 per cent of the value of the company. As a result of our investigations, our client was able to obtain a broad tax indemnity from the vendor in respect of the dispute as well as several other identified tax issues, allowing our client to continue with the acquisition. The deal was then held up at the last moment by tax issues on the vendor’s side, which required them to restructure the proposed deal. PwC were able to advise the client of the tax savings to the vendor under the revised deal, providing our client with a stronger bargaining position over the final deal terms.
