Switzerland levies an issuance stamp duty of 1% on the creation and increase of equity of Swiss corporations in excess of one million francs. This tax on the capitalization of companies is known as &#8220;capital tax&#8221; and has in most European countries long disappeared. It is perceived as one of Switzerland&#8217;s disadvantages in international tax competition since it impedes the raising of equity and places a financial burden on companies. Start-ups, which are mainly financed by capital increases in the founding years, are particularly affected.
Today, the Assembly of the Federal Parliament resolved to abolish the issuance stamp duty. This resolution goes back to a parliamentary initiative of the Liberal Democratic Party in 2009. Already in 2013, the National Council has approved the abolition of the issuance stamp duty. However, the preliminary bill was subsequently suspended by the Council of States. After a group of experts with representatives from the Federal government, cantons, business and science recommended the abolition of the issuance stamp duty in December 2020 and the Federal Council also expressed a positive opinion, the Council of States has now also approved the proposal.
The abolition of the issuance stamp duty would result in annual revenue losses of around CHF 250 million for the Federal government in the short term. However, it is expected that these would be more than offset in the medium to long term by the positive effect on the economy.
The abolition of the issuance stamp duty could in principle come into force on January 1, 2022. However, the Social Democratic Party has announced that it will launch a referendum. It is expected that the required 50,000 signatures will be collected and that a popular vote will take place. Accordingly, the Swiss people should ultimately decide. Such a popular vote is not likely to take place until 2022, so that the entry into force of the abolition of the issuance stamp duty is likely to be delayed.

Abolition of the 1% Issuance Stamp Duty

Corporate / M&A

IP / IT

Data Protection

Employment and Executive Compensation

Homburger News

Homburger and Scaled Agile

On April 20, 2023, Scaled Agile Inc., a portfolio company of Eurazeo SE (Euronext Paris: RF), one of Europe&#8217;s leading private equity firms, announced its acquisition of Rentouch, a Swiss-based company specializing in software for visualizing agile planning events across multiple agile teams with SAFe®. This acquisition aims to accelerate Scaled Agile&#8217;s goal to redefine the way the world&#8217;s leading organizations identify and deliver customer value, capitalize on emerging opportunities, and improve business outcomes through integrated solutions that help teams unlock better ways of working.
Homburger advised Scaled Agile in this transaction. The team was led by Dieter Gericke (Corporate/M&amp;A) and included Léonard Aeschlimann (Corporate/M&amp;A), Reto Heuberger, Philippe Weber (both Tax), Gabriel Kasper (IP/IT and Data Protection), Matia Trosic and Frédéric Fitzi (both Employment and Executive Compensation) as well as Pepe Hünerwadel and Florian Gasche (both Corporate/M&amp;A).

Homburger advises Scaled Agile on its acquisition of Rentouch

Competition

Real Estate

Homburger for Aequita

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AEQUITA entered into an agreement to acquire the Swiss Glassolutions business from Saint-Gobain. The acquisition that is expected to close in May 2023 will further strengthen AEQUITA&#8217;s specialty glass division vandaglas.
AEQUITA is a Munich-based, privately held German industrial group, investing in special situations such as corporate carve-outs, successions and recovery situations across Europe.
Homburger acts as transactional counsel to AEQUITA. The team included Andreas Müller and Stefan Luginbühl (both Corporate/M&amp;A), Reto Heuberger and Philippe Weber (both Tax), Richard Stäuber (Competition) as well as Stefan Gäumann (Real Estate).

Homburger advises AEQUITA on its acquisition of Saint-Gobain's Swiss Glassolutions Business

Capital Markets

Financing and Investment Products

Dufry_bw

On February 3, 2023, Dufry AG (SIX: DUFN) announced that it successfully closed the transfer of the 50.3% stake in Autogrill S.p.A (XMIL: AGL) held by Edizione S.p.A (through a wholly owned subsidiary) to Dufry.
Dufry will launch a mandatory public exchange offer for the remaining Autogrill shares (excluding treasury shares) at the same terms as Edizione and with a cash alternative of EUR 6.33 per Autogrill share.
Dufry expects to complete the full transaction including the mandatory exchange offer settlement by the end of Q2 2023.
Homburger acts as transaction counsel to Dufry. The Homburger team comprises Andreas Müller, Frank Gerhard, Oliver Kneubühl and Carlo Sulser (all Corporate / M&amp;A; Capital Markets), Jürg Frick, Eduard De Zordi, Alexander Wherlock and Nathalie Scherrer (all Financing and Investment Products / Capital Markets), Dieter Grünblatt and Reto Heuberger (both Tax), and Nicole Hilpert and Angela Casey (Employment and Executive Compensation).

Homburger advises Dufry on the successful closing of its strategic combination with Autogrill

Reto
Heuberger

Homburger advises Scaled Agile on its acquisition of Rentouch

Homburger advises AEQUITA on its acquisition of Saint-Gobain's Swiss Glassolutions Business

Homburger advises Dufry on the successful closing of its strategic combination with Autogrill

Abolition of the 1% Issuance Stamp Duty

Private M&A 2023: Switzerland

Structuring Cross-border Transactions

Public M&A 2022: Switzerland

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Reto Heuberger

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RetoHeuberger

Homburger advises Scaled Agile on its acquisition of Rentouch

Homburger advises AEQUITA on its acquisition of Saint-Gobain's Swiss Glassolutions Business

Homburger advises Dufry on the successful closing of its strategic combination with Autogrill

Abolition of the 1% Issuance Stamp Duty

Private M&A 2023: Switzerland

Structuring Cross-border Transactions

Public M&A 2022: Switzerland

Join the Team

Reto Heuberger

Career

Languages

Bar Registration

Teams

Reto
Heuberger