People
Isabelle Panis
Biography
Isabelle is a core member of the Belgian tax team and specialises in Belgian and international tax law.
Her practice is strongly transaction driven, with a particular focus on the structuring of investment funds, private equity deals, corporate reorganizations & restructurings, financial transactions, real estate transactions and management & employee incentive plans. Another important pillar of Isabelle’s practice is tax risk management and representing clients in Belgian and European tax investigations and litigation. Isabelle works for clients in a wide range of sectors, including private equity, private debt, energy, chemicals & utilities, infrastructure, consumer & retail and FIG.
Practice areas
- Tax
- Tax litigation and investigations
- Private equity
- Funds and asset management
- Global employment and compensation
- M and A JVs and corporate reorganizations
- Real estate
Sectors
- Energy
- Banks
- Real estate
- Private capital
- Private equity
- Financial institutions
- Industrials and manufacturing
Selected experience
- Ackermans & van Haaren, the founding Maas family, and management, on the disposal of, and partial re-investment in, the Manuchar group, a leading Antwerp-headquartered distributor of chemical products in emerging markets, to private equity firm Lone Star Funds.
- CFE and DEME on the tax aspects of a partial demerger (spin-off) resulting in the separate listing of DEME, a world leader in dredging, land reclamation, marine infrastructure, offshore energy and environmental remediation.
- Incofin Investment Management on the structuring and setting up of a European feeder fund for its USD 77m Indian master fund, Incofin India Progress Fund.
- Uniper and E.ON in legal proceedings in Belgium, claiming damages from the Belgian State due to the incorrect implementation of the European Energy Tax Directive.
- Alpha Private Equity and management on the disposal of, and partial re-investment in, the IPCOM group, a leading pan-European specialty distributor of energy efficient technical and building insulation products, to private equity firm Astorg.
- Smartfin Capital, SFPIM and SRIW on the structuring of their investment in Hex-Rays, a leading cybersecurity software provider.
- Vendis Capital on the structuring and set-up of its EUR 300m third fund, Vendis Capital III.
- Numerous Belgian private equity and venture capital firms on the structuring and implementation of carried interest structures for their fund managers and of management incentive plans for the management of their portfolio companies.
- Capza 6 Private Debt on the tax aspects of a unitranche financing for Dentius, a large dental service organisation in Belgium.
- Belgian offshore wind parks on a tax litigation against the Belgian tax authorities following a sector-wide Belgian insurance tax audit.
Education
- Master in European Tax Law, ESSF-ICHEC Brussels, 2009
- LLM (Law & Economics), University of Bologna, University of Hamburg, Erasmus University Rotterdam and University of California, Berkeley, 2007
- Master in Law, University of Leuven (KUL), 2006
- Bachelor in Law, University of Namur (FUNDP), 2003
Admissions
- Admitted to the Brussels bar as lawyer (advocaat), 2010
- Admitted to the Brussels bar as lawyer-trainee (advocaat-stagiair), 2007
Languages
- Dutch
- English
- French