On November 18, 2022, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) published private letter ruling 202246008 (the PLR), which concluded that a transaction qualifies as a tax-free spin-off under Section 3552 despite the fact that the...more
Takeaways - Tax law changes in the Build Back Better Act (BBBA) would limit the amount of value a company could extract in a spin-off by using a debt-for-debt exchange. Companies may be able to achieve most of the...more
The Cadwalader Tax team has prepared a case study summarizing General Electric’s recently announced plans to split into three publicly traded companies through sequenced tax-free spin-off transactions. ...more
On August 26, 2021, the Third Circuit confirmed that a corporation remained on the hook for the pension withdrawal liability of its bankrupt subsidiary despite diluting its ownership interest in the subsidiary below 80%, to...more
On March 30, 2020, in The Chemours Company v. DowDuPont Inc., et al., C.A. No. 2019-0351-SG (Del. Ch. Mar. 30, 2020), the Delaware Court of Chancery issued an important decision reaffirming bedrock principles of Delaware...more
Since January 1, 2019 there have been approximately 20 spinoff transactions announced. And to date there have been a number of instances of litigation arising out of spinoffs, some of which have insurance-related issues in...more
In our recent article on spin-offs (click here), we discussed an announcement made by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) signaling a change in the application of the active trade or business (ATB) requirement under Section...more
The “five-year active trade or business” or “ATB” requirement of section 355 is notorious for defeating many otherwise promising tax-free spin-off transactions. Consider the following common scenarios... Originally...more
On September 21, 2017, the Internal Revenue Service (the “IRS”) issued Revenue Procedure 2017-52 (the “Rev. Proc.”), introducing an 18-month “pilot program” in respect of corporate “spin-off,” “split-up” and “split-off”...more
On March 7, 2017, Vice Chancellor Laster of the Delaware Court of Chancery dismissed the action In re Columbia Pipeline Group, Inc., C.A. No.12152-VCL. Stockholders of Columbia Pipeline Group, Inc. (“CPG”) claimed that CPG’s...more
On July 14, 2016, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) proposed long-anticipated regulations tightening the “device” and “active trade or business” tests that are necessary for a corporation to distribute a subsidiary in a...more
President Obama signed into law a bill that will significantly reform the taxation of real estate investment trusts (REITs). Most notably, the Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes Act of 2015 (the Bill) prevents companies from...more
In issuing IRS Notice 2015-59 and Rev. Proc. 2015-43 last week, the IRS intentionally created significant market uncertainty about the viability of “PropCo/OpCo” spin-offs as part of the PropCo’s REIT conversion (e.g., where...more
Lawsuit Dismissed Where Defendant Hulu Did Not “Knowingly” Disclose Personal Identifying Information. In In re: Hulu Privacy Litigation, 2015 WL 1503506 (N.D. Cal. March 31, 2015), the plaintiffs alleged that Hulu had...more
In 2006, the media conglomerate News Corporation, referred to as Old News Corp, entered into a Settlement Agreement to settle stockholder litigation filed in Delaware in 2005. Subject to certain exceptions, the Settlement...more
In certain recent transactions, a corporation distributes a subsidiary corporation holding the distributing corporation’s real estate assets to the distributing corporation’s shareholders in a tax-free “spin-off.” Not only...more