In the first of a two-part article, Peter Rayney looks at some of the recent changes to stamp duty affecting owner-managed companies.
Stamp duty often tends to be overlooked with a simple shrug of the shoulders – ‘It’s only ½% on share purchases, isn’t it?’.
However, where the transaction values are significant, stamp duty can become a very costly part of many corporate transactions. Advantage should therefore be taken of the many available reliefs, where it is practicable to do so.
Inserting a new holding company
Share-for-share exchange transactions are used in a variety of commercially driven cases. For example, the vast majority of capital reduction demergers are preceded by a share-for-share exchange. This is required to insert a new holding company (‘New Holdco’) over an existing
