Laura Charkin

Laura Charkin is a partner in Goodwin’s Tax practice and a member of the Private Investment Funds group. Laura specializes in all taxation matters affecting the private investment funds industry. She advises fund managers and investors across a wide range of asset classes including private equity, debt, real estate, venture capital, infrastructure funds, and fund-of-funds. She has particular expertise in structuring private funds, PCVs, separately managed accounts, executive incentive arrangements, the structures through which funds invest, and investment management platforms. Laura advises on a broad range of UK tax issues including VAT, employment tax, capital gains tax in relation to partnerships, BEPS related tax changes and tax rules relating to carried interest and executive investments into funds. She also has considerable knowledge of international tax issues arising for investment structures with a cross-border dimension and experience with multijurisdictional fund management teams.

Prior to joining Goodwin in 2017, Laura was a partner at King & Wood Mallesons (formerly SJ Berwin).

• Urban Partners’ Northern European real estate business NREP on closing of NREP Nordic Strategies Fund V SCSp which has raised in excess of €3.6 billion, making it the largest European focused value-add real estate fund to date
• Kreos Capital, one of the leading venture and growth debt providers in Europe and Israel, on its acquisition by an American multinational investment company
• Bregal Unternehmerkapital on the structuring and fundraising of their latest fund, Bregal Unternehmerkapital III, which closed at its hard cap of €1.875 billion
• Antin Infrastructure Partners on Project Kapany, which was a GP-led secondary, in which Antin sold a minority strip of four of the assets (three of which comprise fibre networks businesses) from its existing Fund III to Antin Infrastructure Partners III-B SCSp - raising over a billion euros of further commitments from a consortium that includes lead secondary investors Pantheon and Ardian
• Polaris on the formation of their latest fund, Polaris Private Equity V
• Endless on establishing its fifth fund, raising £400 million
• Macquarie Green Investment Group on the structuring and fundraising of its latest fund, Macquarie GIG Renewable Energy Fund 2 (“MGREF2”), which raised €1.635 billion
• Long-standing client Abingworth on the following:
  • the structuring, formation and fundraising their latest life sciences fund, Abingworth Bioventures Fund 8, raising $465 million
  • the structuring, formation and fundraising of Abingworth Clinical Co-Development Fund 2, a life sciences fund focussed on clinical co-development opportunities
• TowerBrook Capital Partners on the establishment of a new real estate lending platform, Precede Capital Partners (formerly Précis), with a multi-billion pound residential development fund and the subsequent stake sale to and joint venture partnership with QuadReal Property Group
• Advised leading pan-Nordic real estate investment manager, NREP, on the establishment of its multi-strategy real estate fund, NSF IV which has raised €1.9bn
• Advised longstanding client Novastar Ventures on the structuring and fundraising of its latest fund, the $108 million Novastar Ventures Africa Fund II
• Ares Management on the structuring and establishment of Ares European Real Estate Fund V, which raised €1.78 billion
• Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets (MIRA) on the structuring and fundraising of its latest fund, Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund 6 (MEIF6). MEIF6 closed at its hard cap of €6 billion – exceeding its target of €5 billion
• A global asset management company's latest $1 billion European Buyout Fund 2019 and associated GP-led restructuring

Laura is a member of the Chartered Institute of Taxation and Invest Europe’s International Tax Working Group. She is also a member of the BVCA (British venture capital association) Tax Committee, which represents the interests of members of the private equity and venture capital industry in taxation matters.

Laura has been recognized as a Top 10 Most Influential UK-Based Tax: Investment Funds Lawyer in 2023 by Business Today.

Laura is recognized by Chambers UK and Chambers Global for her work in Tax: Investment Funds. Ranked in Band 1 by Chambers UK, Laura is described as “very knowledgeable in her subject and takes the time to talk fully through issues… She is one of the best funds tax practitioners in the market.” Clients also note "Laura is an excellent adviser. She's technically very strong and she's fantastic at explaining very complex situations to different stakeholders clearly."

Publications:

• Co-Author, “Horizon Scan for Private Investment Funds: Tax Developments to look out for (May 2024),” Goodwin Alert, May 2024
• Co-Author, “BEFIT for a FASTER Future: A Review of the Latest EU Tax Developments,” BVCA, November 23, 2023
• Quoted, “Tax-evasion rules require compliance plans by 30 September”, Private Funds Management, September 2017 
• “One minute with …Laura Charkin”, Tax Journal, September 2017
• Quoted, “Proposed UK tax shake-up may hit PE,” Private Equity International, July 2017 
• Co-Author, “Legally Speaking: It’s a Competitive World When It Comes to Carry,” Private Fund Management, June 2017
• Quoted, “Spring 2017 Budget: Sowing the Seeds,” Practical Law Tax, March, 2017 
• Co-Author, “FATCA: Private equity funds and the UK/US IGA,” practical law for companies, September 2016
• Co-Author, “Carried interest: the new landscape,” Tax Journal, February 2016
• “FA 2015: Disguised investment management fee rules,” Tax Journal, April 2015
• Co-Author, “Draft FB 2015: Proposed disguised fee income rules,” Tax Journal, January 2015
• “Structuring the Fund in Tax-Efficient Private Fund Structuring,” PEI 2013
• “FATCA Fun for Funds,” Emerging Markets Private Equity Association Legal and Regulatory Bulletin, Spring 2013
• ‘Why the U.S. matters for European private equity firms,” Private Equity International, Autumn 2012
• “Taxation of private equity funds and carried interest,” A Practitioner’s Guide to Private Equity, Sweet & Maxwell, 2009

Speaking engagements:

• “Let’s talk about tax,” SuperReturn CFO/COO 2020 virtual event, September 2020
• "Non-resident capital gains tax on UK real estate," Private Equity Tax Practices conference, September 2019 
• "Post-Brexit fund structuring," Private Equity Tax Practices conference, September 2018 
• “Re-domiciliation of operations outside of the UK: Practical Issues and Considerations for Private Equity Houses”, Private Equity Tax Practices conference, September 2017
• Webinar on “BEPS and what does it mean for fund managers?”, Funds Europe, September 2017
• Keynote address at Tolley Tax Planning for Private Equity Conference 2013
• “Practical implications and implementation of FATCA & Dodd Frank,” EVCA CFO-COO Summit 2013
• “FATCA, it is here, now do something about it,” International Bar Association 13th Annual Tax Planning Strategies - U.S. and Europe Conference, 2013
• “Understanding how your business can plan to manage the FATCA requirement,” PEI Private Fund Compliance conference 2012