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Overview
Arun Birla is the second Managing Partner of Paul Hastings and Vice-Chair of our international Tax practice, based in the London office. Mr. Birla has been named as one of the fifty most influential lawyers by Financial News (2023).
Mr. Birla is widely recognised as one of the leading international tax lawyers in London. He has significant experience in tax, providing tax advice to UK and international clients on a wide range of matters including, M&A, private equity, private and credit funds, structured and asset finance, joint ventures, financing arrangements and restructurings.
Accolades
- Shortlisted for Managing Partner of the Year - Legal Business Awards 2023
- Shortlisted for Partner of the Year – British Legal Awards 2023
- Shortlisted for UK Tax Team of the Year – International Tax Review EMEA Awards 2023
- Named as a Bankruptcy Tax Specialist – Turnarounds & Workouts 2023
- Named among "Fifty Most Influential Lawyers 2023" – Financial News
- Recognised by Chambers & Partners UK as a leader in his field since 2011, most recently in 2023: Tax – "He is one of the rare examples of tax lawyers who combine deep tax knowledge with business acumen."
- Recognised by Chambers Europe, 2023: Tax
- Recognised by Legal 500 UK, 2023: Corporate Tax:
- "Arun Birla is a pleasure to work with. Calm and collected he cuts through to the real issues."
- "Very commercial, great client service."
- "Arun Birla – accessible, responsible, very commercial and client friendly."
- "Pragmatic, commercial, while very knowledgeable not just n tax law but its application within our niche industry."
- "Clear, concise, commercial advice."
Education
- Oxford Institute of Legal Practice, L.P.C., 1997
- Keble College, Oxford, M.A., 1996 (Awarded the Slaughter and May prize)
Representations
- Oakley Capital on its acquisition by Oakley Capital Fund V of Flemming Dental, Excent, and Artinorway Group in a carve-out from European Dental Group, a leading pan-European oral care and services provider, to form one of the leading dental laboratories groups in Europe.
- Francisco Partners in its acquisition of Macrobond, a leading global provider of software and financial data, from Nordic Capital.
- Abry Partners, Castik Capital, and the management team in connection with the £1.15 billion sale of 100% of the share capital of Reward Gateway, a leading global SaaS employee engagement platform, to Edenred, a digital platform for employee benefits services and payments headquartered in France.
- Brillio, a global leader in enterprise digital transformation solutions, in its acquisition of CloudStratex, a UK-based, cloud, advisory, and digital transformation company.
- Veson Nautical, the global leader of maritime freight management solutions, and two of its private equity investors, Francisco Partners and Pamlico Capital, in connection with the acquisition of leading vessel valuation data provider VesselsValue.
- Oakley Capital, on its acquisition of legal information platform, vLex, from its founders and Caixa Capital Risc. The founders of vLex have reinvested alongside Oakley Capital, which will now be the majority shareholder.
- Oakley Capital in connection with the sale of Iberian business software provider, Grupo Primavera, to Cegid and its subsequent reinvestment in the combined business, alongside Cegid’s investors, with an enterprise value of $6.88 billion.
- BaseCamp Group Ltd, European Student Housing Fund I and European Student Housing Fund II (together the "Sellers"), on the sale of a portfolio of 11 private student and residential accommodation assets to Xior Student Housing NV, together with BaseCamp Group entities that are responsible for BaseCamp's property management and property development operations.
- Vector Capital and its portfolio company, Cheetah Digital in the merger between Cheetah Digital and CM Group, a portfolio of martech companies focused on multichannel digital marketing.
- Multiple banks and funds in relation to debt facilities provided for US based aerospace and defence supplier Cobham’s public-to-private bid to acquire UK competitor, Ultra Electronics, for £2.57 billion.
- Abry Partners II on the acquisition of mobile communications provider Link Mobility Group; and on the sale of cloud computing and security company Basefarm to Orange Group
- City Football Group, the owner of football-related businesses including Manchester City FC, New York City FC, Melbourne City FC, and a minority shareholder in Yokohama F. Marinos, on the $400m investment by China Media.
- The ad hoc committee of existing Tier 2 noteholders on the £700 million capital raising plan for the Co-operative Bank Intermediate Capital Group on the €5.2 billion Senior Debt Partners Ill, the then largest pooled direct lending fund in Europe in 2017
- LaSalle Investment Management on the £800 million Real Estate Debt Strategies Ill, the second largest real estate debt fund raised in the UK during 2017
- Activum SG on a number of funds
- Assisting with representations made before the European Court of Justice which led to a successful decision on the VAT treatment of Bitcoin transactions
- Regularly acts for asset managers and underwriters
Engagement & Publications
- Regularly publishes articles and has chaired and spoken at a number of tax conferences
- Co-authored the tax chapter in Joint Ventures (Fourth Edition, Sweet & Maxwell Publishing)
- Co-Authored the LexisNexis PSL guide to Joint Ventures
Involvement
- Member of the UK branch committee of the International Fiscal Association, member of the Alternative Investment Management Association and member of CREFC
- Former Social Mobility Ambassador for the Law Society
- Admitted to practice in England & Wales and New York