Focus on Investment Structuring

Following the legislative elections of 14 October 2018, Pierre Gramegna was re-appointed Minister of Finance in the coalition government formed by the Democratic Party (DP), the Luxembourg Socialist Workers’ Party (LSAP) and the Green Party (déi gréng). Pierre Gramegna first joined the government as Minister of Finance in 2013.

As Minister of Finance, Pierre Gramegna has initiated major reforms to balance the budget and to align Luxembourg’s tax rules with international transparency standards. Thanks to these efforts, Luxembourg’s AAA rating has been consistently confirmed by all major rating agencies and, in 2015, the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes upgraded Luxembourg to “largely compliant”. Pierre Gramegna is also a promoter of the diversification of Luxembourg’s financial centre, in particular with regard to FinTech and sustainable finance. He is the initiator and president of the LHoFT Foundation, which runs the Luxembourg House of Financial Technology. He has also further developed bilateral relations with China in the financial sector.

Pierre Gramegna puts particular emphasis on Luxembourg’s role in multilateral development banks. In 2014, Luxembourg became a member of the African Development Bank and, in 2015, Luxembourg was the first non-Asian country to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. Currently, he is the chairman of the board of Governors of the AIIB. In May 2016, Pierre Gramegna was elected chair of the Board of Governors of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development for a one-year mandate. He currently serves on the Board of Governors of the European Investment Bank and on that of the European Stability Mechanism. He is also Luxembourg’s governor to the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.

Pierre Gramegna studied law and economics at the Université Panthéon-Assas (Paris II), where he was awarded a master’s degree in civil law in 1981 and a degree in economic sciences in 1982. He completed his post-university education with a DEA (postgraduate diploma of advanced studies) in European Union law.

As a career diplomat, Pierre Gramegna joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1983. From 1996 to 2002, Pierre Gramegna was Luxembourg’s ambassador to Japan and South Korea. From 2003 to 2013, Pierre Gramegna held the position of Director General of the Chamber of Commerce.

Nicolas Mackel is CEO of Luxembourg for Finance, the Agency for the Development of the Financial Centre, since July 2013.

Nicolas is a career diplomat. He has graduated with a law degree from the University of Aix-en-Provence, and holds two post-graduate diplomas in European law from the Sorbonne University, respectively the College of Europe in Bruges where he then also served as a teaching assistant in the Law Department. He worked as a legal clerk at the European Court of Justice before joining the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1999. His assignments focused on the successive EU Treaty negotiations (Amsterdam, Nice, Constitution, Lisbon).

Nicolas was consecutively posted at Luxembourg’s Permanent Representation to the EU (2002-07), as Deputy Chief of Mission at Luxembourg’s Embassy in Washington DC (2007-11) and as Consul General in Shanghai (2011-13) where he was in charge of promoting Luxembourg’s economic interests throughout China as the Executive Director of the Luxembourg Trade and Investment Office.

Petya Dimitrova is a Partner in the International and Corporate Tax department at ATOZ.

She has more than 12 years of experience in private equity, real estate and multinational corporations. She advises clients on tax matters related to set-up of funds, carried interest, deal structuring, M&A and divestitures.

Petya is a member of the International Fiscal Association (IFA) in Luxembourg. She is also a member of the ESG Technical Committee of the Luxembourg Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (LPEA).

Petya is qualified as a Chartered Accountant in Luxembourg (“Expert-Comptable”) and holds a master’s degree in Business and Tax law from the University of Nancy (France).

Katia Gauzès co-heads the Corporate practice at Clifford Chance’s Luxembourg office.

She specialises in corporate law, advising domestic and foreign clients, in particular international companies and clients from the private equity and real estate industry on the structuring of complex international transactions, mergers and acquisitions as well as the reorganisation, setting up of various company structures and joint ventures in Luxembourg.

Katia represents Clifford Chance on the board of directors of LPEA, the Luxembourg Private Equity and Venture Capital Association and is part of its Legal Technical Committee. She is also member of the Luxembourg Bar Council (Conseil de l’Ordre) and has been appointed French Foreign Trade Advisor (Conseiller du Commerce Extérieur de la France (CCE)). She is a member of the Luxembourg Bar since 2006 and previously was a member of the Paris Bar.

Katia Gauzès holds a Master’s degree in business law and tax law (DESS droit des affaires et fiscalité) from the Université Paris II Panthéon-Assas (France), as well as a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the business school ESSEC (France).

Vincent is a Tax Partner in the Alternatives Tax Structuring practice in Luxembourg. Vincent is leading for more than 2 years the Alternatives Industry practice at PwC Luxembourg after having led the Private Equity Industry practice since 2004.

He has 24 years of tax experience in Luxembourg and is specialized in structuring Alternatives Funds.

Vincent has also a very long and wide experience in tax structuring cross border transactions, including acquisitions, refinancing and disposals, where Luxembourg is used as holding and financing platform.

Vincent is also highly specialized in structuring Alternatives Funds. He has focused on structuring Luxembourg funds in a European Alternatives context for international and European Alternatives investors through Luxembourg. Vincent has specific experience with the choice of a suitable regulatory regime and investment platform structuring for Alternatives vehicles, tax issues arising in source European jurisdictions and in doing so has coordinated various projects for international Alternatives fund clients with the PwC global network.

Patrick Mischo is the Office Senior Partner of Allen & Overy in Luxembourg and a partner within its Tax practice.

He has been an active member of the Luxembourg Private Equity community for many years, and has 20 years of experience in advising alternative fund managers on international tax matters. He specialises in international and corporate tax law. Patrick advises clients, on amongst others, the tax aspects of domestic and international private equity investments, as well as the structuring of Luxembourg regulated and unregulated alternative investment funds, including private equity funds. He also has extensive experience in securitisation, structured finance and capital markets.

Patrick is a member of the board of the LPEA, a member of the Tax Committee of Invest Europe and a member of the Tax Steering Committee within the Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry (ALFI). He regularly speaks about, and publishes articles, on tax topics.

Dr. Marcus Peter heads the Investment Funds and Private Equity practice at GSK Stockmann in Luxembourg. He is a lawyer in Germany (since 2004) and Luxembourg (since 2005) and obtained his LL.M and Ph.D. degrees from the European Institute in Saarbruecken, Germany.

Prior to GSK Stockmann in Luxembourg, Dr. Marcus Peter has worked for a Luxembourg law firm from 2004 to 2016 (last 4 years as partner). Since 2016, he is a partner at GSK Stockmann in Luxembourg. Dr. Marcus Peter is an expert in Luxembourg Investment Funds & Private Equity law, Mergers & Acquisitions and Corporate Law.

Dr. Marcus Peter is a member of the Luxembourg Private Equity Association (LPEA), Chinese-Luxembourgish Chamber of Commerce, DAV Luxembourg, EVER and CBBL (Cross Border Business Lawyers).

Matthieu Taillandier is a Partner in both the Bank Lending & Structured Finance practice and the Capital Markets practice of Arendt & Medernach. Matthieu advises on all types of financing transactions, including secured and unsecured bank lending, structured finance, acquisition finance and asset finance. Matthieu also specialises in securitisation, advising clients on all aspects of regulated and non-regulated securitisation transactions as well as in capital markets issues focusing on debt issuance and listing.

Matthieu is a regular conference speaker and chair the working group on securitisation of the Association of Luxembourg Fund Industry (ALFI).

He is member of the Luxembourg Bar and of the Paris Bar.

Matthieu Taillandier holds a master’s degree in law from the Université Paris II Panthéon Assas (France) and a DESS degree in European business law from the Université Paris V René Descartes (France) as well as a master’s degree in international business law and management from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC), Paris (France) in partnership with the Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Paris (ESCP) (France).

He is considered by clients as a “key figure” of the Banking & Finance sector in the Legal 500 2017 guide. Sources pick him out as a “really pragmatic” lawyer with a “rigorous and thorough” approach in Chambers Europe 2017. He is mentioned as Leading Lawyer in IFLR 1000 2017.

Vadim Totskyy is the Head of Cross Product Structuring which combined product specialists in areas such as Quantitative Investment Solutions (QIS), Retirement and Savings Solutions (RSS), fund derivatives and hybrid products with delivery platforms including x-Markets, db Select and DB Repackaging Platform.

Since joining Deutsche Bank in 2006, Vadim held various structuring leadership roles within Global Markets division of the Investment Bank and prior to his current role was the Head of DB Repackaging Platform for nearly a decade.

Vadim has started his career over 25 years ago as a certified chartered accountant and is an FCCA and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investments.