COVID-19 #7 Carve-out and sale of non-core or distressed businesses
In the current climate, it is expected that companies in a wide variety of industries will be confronted with a significant drop in sales volumes, possibly causing faltering cashflow positions or even cash crunches. Although the Belgian government, in concertation with financial institutions, are trying to stem the bleeding with short term measures, such as
Negative ruling highlights pitfalls of pre-deal carve-outs through partial demergers
In a recent decision, the Belgian ruling office rejected a pre-deal carve-out of real estate through a tax neutral partial demerger followed by a tax exempt transfer of shares of the operating company. Though the ruling does not particularly divulge novel views, it has the merit of highlighting common pitfalls related to these type of
