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International advisers are increasingly aware of Malta’s advantages as a stable base for international investment and financial services. And interested companies will find a legal community poised to help them through a hybrid system of civil law from continental Europe and administrative and fiscal legislation of mostly British extraction.
“One big advantage we’ve had in this country,” says Louis de Gabriele, partner at law firm Camilleri Preziosi, “is that we are a Mediterranean country that has adapted to the discipline of 160 years of British rule. This is clear in our system of law.”
With mostly banks, investment funds, local corporations and telecoms as clients, the law firm acts as a kind of external counsel providing transactional, regulatory and litigation services.
Growth, according to de Gabriele, is expected in international mergers and acquisitions (M&A) because of Malta’s advantages in terms of having international holding companies (IHCs) - onshore companies holding overseas investment with the purpose of income distribution to non-residents. IHCs are the result of legislation that replaced an old offshore regime.
“We have seen a lot of M&A activity coming our way,” says de Gabriele. “We do work that would otherwise be done in London at eight times our rate.”
Since non-resident shareholders of IHCs qualify for a full refund of the 35% tax paid by the company on profits and gains, Malta appeals as a tax efficient jurisdiction that is also EU compliant. And double taxation agreements are in place with dozens of countries across six continents.
Such incentives are getting attention.
Zammit & Associates, established in 2005, serves mostly European-based clients, particularly those with e-commerce business models.
Though e-gaming may have reached maturity on the back of anticipated tightening of regulations, e-commerce in financial services is gaining traction, according to Andrew Zammit, managing partner. The law firm recently dealt with the first online foreign exchange platform in Malta after the company redomiciled from Switzerland.
And because of the nation’s Mediterranean location, maritime law is another area of focus. Fenech & Fenech, the oldest law firm in the country, celebrating its 120th anniversary this year, has the only maritime litigation department on the island, established by managing partner Dr Ann Fenech. “Malta has got some excellent first class solutions that not only benefit the ship owner, but more importantly, benefit the financier,” she says, adding that before investors are charmed by Malta’s culture and beauty, they are first and foremost attracted by the fiscal regime and legislative package. |
