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Annette Beresford headshot 600x600
Of Counsel

Annette Beresford

Languages
  • German
  • English
Social media

Annette is an Of Counsel in the Employee Incentives Team. She specialises in share schemes, equity structures and other arrangements for employee and executive participation. She advises on the design and implementation of those arrangements as well as their treatment in a transactional context.

Annette has worked with clients of all sizes, from large multinationals to fledgling start-ups. Her extensive expertise covers a range of areas in addition to employee incentives, including corporate taxes, transaction taxes, mergers & acquisitions, restructurings, venture capital and risk capital investments.

Annette also takes an active interest in tax policy and regularly comments on HMRC consultations. She is a member of the Share Plan Lawyers Group, the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT) and the CIOT’s Technical Committee for Corporate Taxes.

Relevant experience

  • A British based technology group on competitive offers for a £1.5 billion takeover, including in particular advising the tax implications of arrangements concerning employee share options and preparing offer letters to option holders (as required by the Takeover Code).
  • A US headquartered multinational group on establishing a UK subplan to its existing US share plan.
  • A US based company with negotiating a settlement with HMRC following discovery of a payroll compliance failure by a UK subsidiary.
  • A UK based crypto business on setting up new incentives arrangements for key executives.
  • The owner of a start-up company on setting up a global share plan, and subsequently on the treatment of share options granted under such plan on the occasion of a £40 million sale of the company to a US-based purchaser.
  • A UK based fintech business on a restructuring in the form of a share-for-share exchange to establish a group structure in preparation for a debt funding round, with existing incentives arrangements being moved up to holding company level.
  • A UK based online retail business with setting up a new EMI share option plan which required new classes of growth shares.
  • A UK company with a presence in Estonia with setting up a new EMI share option plan which is also suitable for option grants to Estonian based employees and consultants.

Memberships & Roles

  • Share Plan Lawyers Group
  • Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT)

Education

  • 2007: Chartered Tax Adviser (CTA)
  • 2004: Legal Practice Course (LPC), BPP Law School (London)
  • 2003: Postgraduate Diploma in Law, BPP Law School (London)   
  • 2000: Magister Artium (M.A.) in Classics and Medieval German, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (Munich)  
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