Overview
Candice Nichol is a tax partner in London and advises clients on a broad range of complex tax matters. She is particularly recognised for her work advising asset management, investment fund and financial institution clients on tax structuring and transactions. Candice leverages her experience attained within the legal sector, the Big Four and at a leading financial institution to provide tax advice that is pragmatic and cognizant of client and market context. Technical excellence and client service are at the forefront of Candice’s practice; she has been described by her clients as “an outstanding tax technician and client server”.
Candice has a focus on private equity. She advises private equity funds and investors on tax structuring and on all types of international transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, corporate carve-outs, public-to-private transactions, buy-and-build strategies, debt-to-equity conversions and restructurings, across debt, equity, infrastructure and real estate asset classes. In connection with this advice, Candice covers a wide variety of structuring issues, including advising on anti-avoidance legislation, funding options and the taxation of financial instruments, holding company structures, suitable structures for UK investors, the taxation of carried interest, co-investments, and employee incentive arrangements, pre-sale reorganisations, and exit considerations (including IPOs, private sales, and auctions). Candice also has experience in contentious tax matters.
Prior to joining McDermott, Candice was a tax partner at a Big Four accounting firm where she advised large cap private equity clients on M&A transactions. Prior to this, she spent 15 years practising law in an international law firm, where she advised clients on tax structuring and transactions and spent time on secondment at a US-headquartered global investment bank.
Results
- Advised a private equity fund on the tax aspects of a multi-billion-dollar acquisition of financial assets, which included the establishment of one of the UK’s first Qualifying Asset Holding Companies*
- Advised a private equity fund on the tax aspects of a cross-border corporate carve-out from an insurance group*
- Advised a private equity fund on the tax aspects of a cross-border sale of a real estate developer, which included the successful negotiation of a multi-million-pound tax ruling with an overseas tax authority*
- Advised a private equity fund on the tax aspects of the establishment of a buy-and-build platform and subsequent multiple acquisitions and integration of accountancy firms*
- Advised a private equity fund on the multi-billion-dollar cross-border sale of an infrastructure asset*
- Advised a private equity fund on the tax aspects of the acquisition of an interest in a cryptocurrency business*
- Advised a private equity fund on the tax aspects of the sale of its interest in a media production company*
- Advised a number of private equity funds on the tax aspects of M&A activity involving businesses across the financial services, private enterprise, healthcare and consumer, retail and leisure sectors, such as investments in a tech distributor, a fertility clinics group and a fast-food company*
Recognitions
- The Legal 500 UK, Recommended
Credentials
Education
BPP Law School London, LPC, 2006
BPP Law School London, GDL, 2005
University College London, BA, 2004
Admissions
England and Wales, 2008
Languages
English