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Clíona Kirby

Partner

CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang LLP
Cannon Place
78 Cannon Street
London
EC4N 6AF
United Kingdom
Languages English, French

Clíona was one of the first born and bred Partners with legacy firm Olswang having worked at Olswang since 1996.  Clíona's practice spans a range of advisory and transactional tax work, advising on a variety of tax issues including: corporate sales and acquisitions, joint ventures, group restructurings, employee incentives and fund establishment.  

Clíona has significant experience advising on tax issues relating to real estate investment in office and large scale residential and student portfolios (including capital allowances, VAT and stamp duty land tax).

With a strong focus on the TMT sector (particularly in the film, tv music and games space) she regularly advises individual and corporate clients on the tax efficient holding and exploitation of intellectual property rights both domestically and internationally. 

Clíona takes a keen interest in the wider issues affecting the sectors she advises and continues to be at the centre of leading the debate on tax policy changes within the Creative Industries. Clíona was the sole tax adviser to the HMRC Film Industry Group, which addressed the key policy issues in relation to the film tax credit and commenting on the draft legislation and guidance. 

As a result of her experience Clíona has also been integral in the introduction of the high end TV, animation, video games and theatre tax credits.

Clíona Kirby was appointed as a core member of the Creative Industries Council Access to Finance Working Group chaired by Ian Livingstone (Life President Square Enix) which involved considering the challenges faced by the film, games, radio, TV and other creative industries in obtaining funding in the UK.

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"Cliona is 'very savvy on property and IP tax issues'."

Legal 500

Relevant experience

  • DV4 Limited on its GBP 1.4bn partnership with Qatari Diar Real Estate Investment Company and Dutch pension fund asset manager APG to join forces to create an equal partnership in the large scale residential sector in respect of 4,000 new market rate rented homes across London's East Village and Elephant & Castle. This deal built on the existing experience advising on the structuring of the joint venture between DV4 Limited and Qatari Diar and its subsequent successful acquisition of the Olympic Village for GBP 557m in 2014 and the ongoing operational tax aspects.
  • DV4 Limited on its joint venture with APG to deliver rental homes in large scale clusters at strategic UK locations.
  • DV4 Limited on its investment in Here East to acquire the Media and Broadcast Centres on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park to create a leading creative and digital hub at the site including an Innovation Centre.
  • DV4 Limited on its joint venture with Clare Cockerton and Entiq (the innovation and business accelerator specialists) to create Europe's largest technology innovation centre at Here East.
  • DV4 on its joint venture with the LRC Group of companies in respect of Royal Mint Court and the ongoing operational tax aspects of the proposed re-development.
  • DV4 Limited on its UK logistics development joint venture to be known as db symmetry through the purchase of a 60% holding in Barwood Developments Limited,with the remaining shareholding being retained by the existing Barwood management team. Subsequently acting for db symmetry on all its acquisitions and its joint venture with Pochins to acquire land at Middlewich.
  • DV3 RS Limited Partnership on its successful appeal against SDLT assessments raised in the context of partnership transfer arrangements. The case was the first decision of the Tribunal on how the SDLT rules operate.
  • Sony Pictures Television in relation to its acquisition of the channels business, Dolphin Broadcasting Limited, and a majority stake in the advertising sales house, Dolphin TV Limited.
  • Daedalus Partners LLP, Great Point Media Limited, Octopus Investments Limited and Earthworm Capital on a range of EIS offerings in the market across the TV, video games, construction and renewable energy sectors.
  • On multi-party film financings and obtaining the UK film tax credit on films such as Nine, Sherlock Holmes, Inglorious Basterds, The King's Speech, The Reader, Me & Orson Wells, Cemetry Junction, Harry Brown, Prince of Persia, Alice in Wonderland, Quantum of Solace and Casino Royale.
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Publications

  • Tolley's Tax Planning: Enterprise Investment Scheme and Seed Investment Scheme chapter
  • Tolley's Finance Handbook
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Education

  • 1998 – LLM, Tax, King's College London, London
  • 1995 – LPC, College of Law, York
  • 1994 – LLB, Law, Manchester
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Feed

19/02/2019
CMS advises DV4 Limited and management on £370m logistics disposal
CMS has acted for Delancey-advised fund, DV4 Limited, and management on the sale of its investment in db Symmetry (dbS) to Tritax Big Box REIT plc (Tritax). The deal values dbS at £370m with the consideration...
11/07/2018
Non-residents CGT: implications for real estate funds
The Government has published responses to the consultation released in November 2017, and draft legislation for the basic rules. Legislation is yet to be released in relation to collective investment...
06/03/2018
Non-residents and real estate Budget 2017: where does this leave the JPUT?
Jersey property unit trusts (JPUTs) have long been attractive SPVs for onshore and offshore investors into UK real estate. However, we anticipate that the proposed extension of capital gains tax to non-resident...
17/01/2018
Non-residents and real estate - Budget 2017: extension of capital gains
Following on from our initial publication on these proposals, we have been engaging with both clients and industry bodies on the issues the market is facing. Whilst it is expected that the changes will...
23/03/2015
Budget 2015 - Extension to film and TV tax credits
This article was produced by Olswang LLP, which joined with CMS on 1 May 2017. After praising the "huge" contribution of the creative industries to the British economy, George Osborne announced several...
14/04/2002
Olswang advises DV4 on £1.4 billion London residential property deal
This article was produced by Olswang LLP, which joined with CMS on 1 May 2017. International law firm Olswang has advised long-standing client DV4, a Delancey advised fund, on the £1.4 billion merger...