Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, on April 4, 2016, the IRS and Treasury released proposed and temporary regulations attacking corporate inversion transactions with an even bigger bite than expected. The first to fall victim to the new rules was the Pfizer-Allergan deal. In its press release issued on April 6, 2016, Pfizer announced that the merger agreement was terminated by mutual agreement of the companies. Pfizer indicated that the decision was “driven by the actions announced by the U.S. Department of Treasury on April 4, 2016.”

Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) issued its final overtime rule (the “Rule”), dramatically increasing the minimum salary threshold required to qualify for the Federal Labor Standards Act’s (the “FLSA”) white collar exemptions.

Our North American Commercial Restructuring practice has added Evan Blum and Matt Covington who join as Managing Directors in New York and Los Angeles, respectively. Together they bring more than thirty years of financial advisory, turnaround consulting and interim management expertise, with portfolios of work that include restructuring matters and special situations in court and outside of bankruptcy

Many boards are not equipped to deal with big disruptions to their businesses, and conventional governance is not “fit for purpose” in such situations, according to new research by Henley Business School and Alvarez & Marsal.

Leading global professional services firm Alvarez & Marsal (A&M) has expanded its wealth management transformation capacity with the addition of two seasoned experts who join the firm’s Financial Industry Advisory Services group. Craig Walling joins as a Managing Director and Kevin Ferguson joins as a Senior Director, both in New York.

Ramin Tabibzadeh joins A&M's Performance Improvement practice as a Managing Director in Los Angeles. He specializes in helping Global 1000 and mid-market companies achieve top-line growth and tangible bottom line improvements through operational cost optimizations and effective technology implementations.

Many retailers are failing to assess the true contribution their stores make as part of the multi-channel business model and customer journey, which in turn can result in poorly informed store closure programmes, resulting in sub-optimal formats and further decline.

As is often the case in practical tax planning, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” On April 4, 2016, the IRS and Treasury issued proposed regulations under the authority of Section 385 of the Internal Revenue Code. Numerous commentators have questioned the IRS and Treasury’s authority to create several of the rules in these regulations. As a result, their validity may or may not be upheld in court, if the regulations are finalized as proposed. Unfortunately, while the possibility of a future court battle between taxpayers and the IRS over these regulations may be of major academic interest, it is of no present or practical help to internal tax departments that are undoubtedly asking the questions, “What do these regulations mean to my company? What should I be doing about them now?”

Phil Beckett was recently appointed as a Managing Director in our Global Forensic and Dispute Services practice, based in London. Mr. Beckett’s appointment underscores the growing demand from corporates in the UK and Europe for operational forensic expertise which can help to preempt and respond to concerns such as cyber-security and bribery.

Alvarez & Marsal Taxand, LLC, an affiliate of leading global professional services firm Alvarez & Marsal, announced that industry veteran Laurie Wik has joined the firm’s tax practice as a Senior Director in San Francisco.

Our Executive Compensation and Benefits practice welcomes George F. O’Donnell who will serve as a Managing Director in Greenwich, Connecticut. An expert in structuring compensation programs for senior management and outside directors, Mr. O’Donnell’s legal and accounting background strengthens A&M’s offering for professional services firms.

Drug overdose deaths in the United States averaged a record 118 per day in 2014, with prescription opioids (e.g., Vicodin, Percocet ) accounting for 40 to 50 percent of the total. Heroin, formerly the scourge of poor and urban areas, has now penetrated middle-to-high-income suburban areas with a low cost, high potency product. Fentanyl, with 40 to 50 times the potency of pure heroin, is also available. Alarming headlines, combined with growing evidence of death and devastation, has led to an outcry for additional legislation, manpower and funding to address substance abuse and dependency disorders.

On April 4, 2016, the IRS and Treasury released two sets of proposed and temporary regulations that caused various taxpayers, investment bankers and large sectors of the investment community, particularly in the pharmaceutical and biomed sectors, to sound alarm bells.

Performance Management is an umbrella term encompassing the processes and applications that support strategy development, planning and forecasting, financial management, profitability management, and reporting and analytics. EPM, CPM and BI are popular acronyms referring to Performance Management. At A&M, we call it Integrated Performance Management (IPM) because we believe that the core of management excellence and achieving the success of our clients’ programs is integration.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has been busy of late producing internal guidance for its examiners (both specialists and non-specialists) for use in auditing foreign and cross-border transactions.