Former Chiltern Tax Partners Join Alvarez & Marsal to Launch Alvarez & Marsal Taxand U.K. LLP

David Pert Named Managing Director and Head of Alvarez & Marsal Taxand U.K. LLP

Alvarez & Marsal Taxand U.K. Becomes Member Firm of TAXAND, the Premier Global Network of Independent Tax Advisors

Frederic Donnedieu de Vabres, Chairman of Taxand, the first global network of independent tax advisors and Robert N. Lowe, CEO of Alvarez & Marsal Taxand, LLC have jointly announced the launch of Alvarez & Marsal Taxand UK LLP in London with a group of top tax partners previously associated with Chiltern Plc. Alvarez & Marsal Taxand is a founding member of the global Taxand network made up of independent tax firms around the world that do not offer audit services. The deal concluded swiftly after Chiltern was recently acquired in the UK by an audit firm, making it no longer eligible to be part of Taxand’s network. Led by former Chiltern CEO David Pert, Alvarez & Marsal Taxand U.K. will serve as the official U.K. member of the Taxand global network of independent tax advisors, Joining Mr. Pert as Managing Directors are Shiv Mahalingham and Kevin Hindley.

Stated Mr. Donnedieu de Vabres, also President of France-based founding member firm Arsene Taxand, “This exciting development is absolutely in line with Taxand’s core values of putting clients at the forefront and maintaining our independence and entrepreneurial spirit. More than 40 countries around the world share the Taxand commitment to serve our clients on platforms that remain free from audit-based conflicts of interest. This sends an important signal to our clients and the global market place.”

“Since our inception in 2004, Alvarez & Marsal Taxand in the United States has grown to more than 180 tax professionals,” said Robert N. Lowe, Jr., CEO of A&M Taxand. “At the same time, the Taxand global network has expanded to more than 40 countries and nearly 2000 tax professionals around the world. This rapid, yet strategic growth serves as a model that will be replicated and expanded by Alvarez & Marsal Taxand U.K. It is indicative of the surging demand we continue to see in today’s environment for independent tax advisors who are free from audit-based conflicts of interest facing accounting firms. David, Shiv and Kevin are world class tax professionals who have deep relationships in the U.K. and beyond. We are delighted to have them spearheading this exciting effort.”

“Alvarez & Marsal Taxand U.K. retains the principle of independence on which Taxand was founded and ensures that the global tax network will be able to continue to provide uninterrupted service to our Taxand clients,” said Frederic Donnedieu de Vabres, founder of French tax advisory firm, Arsene Taxand. “The entire Taxand membership welcomes the firm with great enthusiasm and unanimous support.”

Stated David Pert, “This feels a lot like coming home. Shiv, Kevin and I have been serving clients and working closely with our tax partners at Alvarez & Marsal and Taxand for years, so this transition has been seamless. Now both as Alvarez & Marsal and the U.K member of Taxand, we are better positioned than ever to build a world class tax team in the U.K.”

As CEO of Chiltern, Mr. Pert led the way in establishing the company as the U.K.’s largest independent tax consultancy. Prior to joining Chiltern, he was with a Moores Rowland where he earned a reputation as a leading tax fraud specialist. He began his tax career with HMRC (formerly Inland Revenue), where he spent 18 years focusing primarily on tax investigation and issues involving serious fraud.

Prior to joining A&M, Mr. Mahalingham was affiliated with Chiltern and previously with Ernst & Young where he led a number of large projects to include tax effective value chain optimization for FTSE 100 groups; thin capitalization studies for high profile private equity backed buyouts; dispute resolution between multinational groups and the U.K. tax authorities; and transfer pricing risk/opportunity assessments for FTSE mid-cap and fledgling groups. He also spent two years at PPD, a Fortune 500 company based in the U.K., where he established in-house transfer pricing risk controls, systems and planning structures.

Previously with Chiltern, Mr. Hindley brings ten years of corporate and international tax experience, eight of them at Big Four firms, including Deloitte and prior to that Ernst & Young. He specializes in working with multinational companies in the U.K./U.S. interface including both U.K. inbound and U.K. outbound clients. Mr. Hindley also has considerable experience relating to reorganizations, mergers and acquisitions, de-mergers, break up bids, tax structuring, repatriation planning and capital gains planning as well as in the research and development of tax credits.

History of Alvarez & Marsal Taxand and the Taxand Global Network

In 2004, under the leadership of division CEO Robert N. Lowe in the U.S., Alvarez & Marsal (A&M), a leading global professional services firm, set out to build the premier independent tax practice of the post-Enron era dedicated to providing clients with a world-class alternative to Big Four accounting firms that would not be subject to audit-based conflicts of interest.

In 2005 Alvarez & Marsal Taxand joined a handful of highly respected tax firms to become a founding member of Taxand, the first independent network of global tax advisors with shared principles of delivering responsive client service and audit-free independence. The Taxand network continues to be led by visionary Chairman Frederic Donnedieu de Vabres, also CEO of Arsenes Taxand in France.

Both Alvarez & Marsal Taxand (www.alvarezandmarsal.com) and the Taxand global network (www.taxand.com) have grown exponentially since inception, signaling the surge in demand from clients for audit-free, responsive and independent tax advice on a country by country and global scale. The Taxand network now includes more than forty member firms, one per country around the world, that share a common vision of excellence in client service and offer independent tax advisory services through former Big Four talent. With the launch in 2007 of Alvarez & Marsal Taxand UK LLP led by former Chiltern CEO David Pert, both A&M and the Taxand network have extended this commitment to building the leading professional tax team in the UK that delivers seamless service to local and global Taxand clients.