What’s on International Treasurer’s radar screen.
This week’s International Treasurer editorial meeting produced several topics that we’ll be fleshing out over the coming weeks. We also get glimpses of the meeting agendas for the NeuGroup’s coming fall meetings.
Spin offs. There has been a record amount of spin offs in 2011, according to Bloomberg, as companies look to separate from a business unit (struggling or otherwise) vs. an outright sale (which has tax implications). Recently McGraw-Hill announced it was exploring a separation (which could mean spin off) from a struggling education unit, and Hewlett-Packard also apparently is set to spin off its PC unit.
More famously, Motorola is reaping the benefits of its spinoff of Motorola Mobility, which was spun off from parent Motorola in late 2010/early 2011. This turns out to have added shareholder value as now Motorola Mobility is about to be acquired by Google.
Ireland. Ireland was one of the worst countries hit by the 2008 debt crisis. It is now on the road to recovery, unexpectedly, as the FT reports, “moving rapidly towards a sizeable current account surplus – in a range of 3 to 4 per cent of gross domestic product.”
But what has the crisis done in terms of Ireland being one of the major tax jurisdictions of choice for MNCs? Companies have taken advantage of Ireland’s low-tax jurisdiction for years as it offers a very large network of double-tax treaties, which provides for reduced or zero foreign withholding tax on foreign income received. Did companies leave during the crisis and if they did, are they returning?
Upcoming meetings. The NeuGroup is gearing up for its fall meetings, including Engineering & Construction Treasurers’ Peer Group (E&CTPG, September 14-15), the Global Cash and Banking Group (GCBG, September 27-28) as well as both the FX Managers’ Peer Groups 1 and 2 (FXMPG1, September 14-15; FXMPG2 September 21-22). Among the topics to be discussed at these meetings will be:
- Debt Capital in a Downgraded World (E&CTPG)
- Successfully Managing a JV Relationship (E&CTPG)
- Best Execution Practices for FX (FXMPG1)
- Risk Analysis, Probability Assessment and Tail Risk (FXMPG1)
- Reviewing Regulatory Changes and Their Impact (GCBG)
And just about all groups will have discussions on the continuing impact of Dodd-Frank and other global financial regulations.