Michael Fletcher

Michael Fletcher

Senior Associate

Michael advises on all areas of taxation law with a particular emphasis on domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions and financing transactions (including leveraged and real estate financing, bond issuances and securitisations).

Michael also has extensive experience advising clients from a range of sectors on their tax disputes. In addition to resolving disputes with HMRC, Michael also has experience assisting clients with their tax-related contractual disputes and on their compliance with tax authority information requests and investigations.

Expertise

Industries

Experience

Representative matters

  • Direct Line on the £550m asset sale of its brokered commercial insurance business to RSA Insurance.
  • Waterland Private Equity on its investment in Moore Kingston Smith, a leading multidisciplinary professional services firm.
  • United Overseas Bank on the acquisition of Citigroup’s consumer banking franchise in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam for approximately USD $3.8bn.
  • Lenders to Advent International, one of the world’s leading private equity investors, on the financing of its acquisition of a majority stake in ZIMMERMANN, the luxury fashion brand.
  • An international oil and gas company on its USD $550m acquisition of an onshore drilling business comprising over 80 land rigs across 13 countries in the Middle East and the Americas.
  • A global manufacturing company on a €100m tax covenant claim brought against it by the new owner its European operations. Tax advice comprised various potential defences to the contractual claim as well advice on the strength of the underlying tax authority claim.

Qualifications

Admissions

Admitted as a Solicitor, England & Wales, 2015

Solicitor Advocate, Higher Courts Rights, 2016

Academic

MA, History, University of Cambridge, 2011

LLB, University of Law, 2013

LLM, Tax Law, University of London, 2017

Disclaimer
A&O Shearman was formed on May 1, 2024 by the combination of Shearman & Sterling LLP and Allen & Overy LLP and their respective affiliates (the legacy firms). Any matters referred to above may include matters undertaken by one or more of the legacy firms rather than A&O Shearman.