The team

The Howden Mergers & Acquisitions team is a market leading provider of specialist insurance solutions for M&A risks. The 110 professionals that make up our dedicated team have a wide variety of backgrounds, including law, tax, investment banking, environmental consultancy and general industry – as well as graduates from a variety of disciplines. We have offices in London, Frankfurt, Munich, Madrid, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Hong Kong, Singapore, Warsaw, Paris, Belgium and Amsterdam, working with clients across Europe, Asia and North America

Our expertise covers the design of a range of bespoke policies and their successful placement to support M&A transactions. We advise on a variety of insurance products including warranty & indemnity, tax liability, contingent risk, environmental liability and title insurance. We placed 1,061 policies on 737 transactions in FY2021, making Howden M&A one of the largest and most active brokers in the M&A insurance market.

Background to tax insurance

Tax insurance is part of a wider set of specialist insurance products. These policies are used to support and facilitate M&A deals, and other strategic transactions in response to an identified tax issue.

If a buyer finds a potential risk during its due diligence process (e.g. a risk is identified that HMRC could challenge the tax treatment of an employment share scheme), it will normally require an indemnity. Private equity sellers are unwilling/unable to provide such an indemnity as it limits distribution to investors / LPs. Insurance can stand in this space, providing a solution and eliminating risk.

Outside of M&A, policies can be obtained on a standalone basis to cover historic or ‘forward looking’ tax risks arising from investments or business activities where the application of relevant tax law is unclear. Insurance can be a valuable tool for providing tax treatment certainty in the context of restructurings, cross-border tax issues, liquidations, financing and cash repatriation arrangements, as well as for assisting asset managers and investment functions with managing risk on their portfolios.

The market for tax insurance is growing rapidly – many specialist insurers have hired tax underwriters to provide specialist knowledge. Howden M&A has done the same on the brokerage side.

The role

Howden M&A has a dedicated Tax & Structuring team across eight European jurisdictions (including 5 people in London) which helps clients to structure, market and negotiate tax risk insurance solutions. The team can draw on experience from international tax, accounting and law firms as well as in-house experience in financial services, M&A and real estate.

The successful candidate would support the team in building the tax insurance business by delivering an excellent and comprehensive service.

This will primarily be achieved via the following tasks:

Reviewing tax documents (including tax due diligence reports, tax memos, and legal agreements) to ensure i) tax insurance coverage for W&I is as broad as possible, and ii) identifying tax risks which may be suitable for a specific insurance solution
Discussing insurability of tax risks with clients, including asking the right questions to elicit all required information and advising clients on any further diligence that needs to be undertaken in relation to risks
Approaching the insurance market with tax risks. This will involve summarising the risk and presenting it to insurers in an accessible manner, as well as clearly articulating the coverage required by the client
Discussing the selection of an insurer with clients, including supporting the negotiation and placement of tax insurance policies

There is a strong support network available for the successful candidate to ensure they fully understand the W&I and tax insurance markets. As the business continues to grow the candidate will be expected to take on more responsibility and work with greater autonomy, both during peak deal times, but also exploring business development opportunities when deals are not time pressured.

Required skills

Strong attention to detail
Able to work collaboratively
Confident and capable communicator
Able to build sustainable relationships
Competent IT skills, including but not limited to Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint
Able to work independently, use initiative and take a proactive approach
Highly organized, with good planning/time management skill
Able to work flexibility and to achieve tight deadlines/targets
Professional and personable – creates a strong first impression
Able to react positively to change
Resilient and calm under pressure
Ability to travel as required (usually no more than 3 days a month)

Required qualifications and work experience

Qualifications: 2.1 degree or above, in any discipline
Work experience: 6 months’ part-time/full-time work experience in a customer-facing role (i.e. retail, hospitality, sales) to demonstrate confidence talking to strangers and an introduction to customer service

What is in it for you?

Structured training and day to day support to learn how the insurance market operates
Tailored training to develop their client skills and commercial awareness
25 days holiday
Discretionary annual bonus
Training and development opportunities
Benefits including: Private medical insurance, Cycle to Work scheme, Tech vouchers, charitable giving, Gym memberships, and many more

Process & Timelines

Initial CV submission and application
Online testing
Shortlisting
Assessment centres (February)
Start date - March 2022

Please email us here if there are any reasonable adjustments we can make to assist you in your application or with any part of the recruitment process. These may include online tests, video interviews, short phone calls and an assessment centre. For more information and guidance please visit here

Analyst, London Tax Insurance Team