Russell McVeagh's all-round top tax team

Russell McVeagh's top tax team, led by partners Fred Ward and Greg Neill, has again been recognised as preeminent in the NZ market in the latest leading legal directories and Business Today Lawyer Awards:

• ITR World Tax 2024 – ranking in the Top Tier for General Corporate Tax (the fifth consecutive year of being ranked in this guide), with Fred and Greg both ranking as World Tax Leaders.

• Who's Who Legal Australia & New Zealand 2023 – Fred Ward named a World Leader in Corporate Tax, and one of only three NZ tax lawyers recognised.

• Business Today Lawyer Awards 2023 - Fred Ward named in NZ's Top 10 Influential Tax Lawyers 2023 list.

Our team provides a complete range of advice on direct and indirect taxation and advises on the most significant and complex corporate transactions. Highlights include advising on:

• Fonterra Co-operative Group's review of its capital structure.

• QIC Private Capital on its acquisition of 50% of Vector Limited's New Zealand and Australian metering business valued NZ$2.15 billion.

• Beijing Capital Group's sale of Waste Management New Zealand to Igneo Infrastructure Partners for NZ$1.9 billion.

• Acting as the New Zealand jurisdiction legal and tax adviser to Australia and New Zealand Banking Group in its restructure where it put in place a NOHC as its ASX / NZX listed parent company via a Scheme of Arrangement.

• National Australia Bank's sale of its NZ Life Insurance business.

Fred is also ranked a Top Tier tax lawyer by Chambers and Partners Guide and features in the Hall of Fame in the Legal 500 Guide. With more than 26 years with the firm's partnership, he has twice been named 'Lawyer of the Year' for tax law by Best Lawyers® New Zealand and has been voted by his peers for inclusion in the Best Lawyers New Zealand Guide for Tax Law from 2008 to 2024.

Greg provides considerable tax expertise and advises on a broad range of New Zealand tax matters for large corporates, financial institutions and private businesses across the motu and offshore. Following his return to Russell McVeagh and becoming a tax partner in 2021, Greg is recognised by the Best Lawyers® 2024 Guide and Recommended by the Legal 500 Asia Pacific Guide for Tax Law in New Zealand.