Publication date: 29.04.2025
I am a qualified English solicitor and Ukrainian advocate with nearly 20 years of legal experience, including over 10 years of practice in the United Kingdom. I specialize in international business law, cross-border transactions, complex commercial dispute resolution, and project management. I have deep expertise in corporate, commercial law, and international taxation. I advise HNW clients, international companies, and startups. Education: MBA (Cambridge), LLM in International Taxation (Sweden), legal education (Ukraine).
Initial Information: A private investor approached me, owning assets across several countries — including the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, the UAE, and Hong Kong. His interests spanned multiple sectors: real estate, investments in tech startups, securities, and corporate shares. The total value of the assets exceeded tens of millions of pounds.
The client was seeking an effective and legal solution for protecting these assets, as well as a structure that would avoid double taxation and facilitate property management across multiple jurisdictions.
Problem: The main challenge was the absence of a unified integrated asset management structure. The assets were held by different individuals and legal entities across various countries, which created:
- Risk of losing control — especially in the event of potential litigation, tax audits, or changes in legislation;
- Threat of double or even triple taxation at various stages: earning profits, distributing dividends, selling assets;
- Complications in succession planning, jeopardizing the preservation of wealth for future generations;
- Limited legal flexibility in international investments and restrictions on capital reinvestment across different countries.
Solution: I initiated a thorough audit of all assets and income sources, conducted a full review of legal links between companies, their statutes, founding documents, contract types, and tax conditions in each jurisdiction.
Based on the collected data, we identified key objectives:
- Unify ownership and corporate management.
- Protect assets from potential legal risks.
- Ensure effective tax planning.
- Build a succession structure for future generations.
During implementation, the following steps were taken:
- establishment of several companies in the UK, UAE, Luxembourg, and Hong Kong with distinct functions (operations, holding, IP management, etc.);
- creation of a contractual framework between all companies to transparently redistribute profits, protect assets, and assign authority;
- establishment of a trust structure to ensure inheritance of ownership, compliant with UK law;
- full legal support for registrations, opening of bank accounts, and preparation of internal policies and governance documents;
- involvement of international consultants and legal experts in tax, finance, and corporate law to validate decisions in each jurisdiction.
Special attention was given to compliance with UK anti-corruption and tax regulations, including HMRC requirements, FATCA, CRS, and ensuring transparency before banks and regulators.
The client obtained a fully transparent, secure, and legally compliant structure that enabled him to:
- centrally manage assets across different countries;
- minimize tax obligations through legal optimization mechanisms;
- avoid the risk of losing control over property due to court or administrative rulings;
- establish a clear succession plan to preserve assets for his family without legal and tax complications;
- expand opportunities for reinvestment into new markets — including the USA, Israel, and Singapore.
Result:
The investor received a stable international business structure combining flexibility, legality, and reliability. All assets remained under control, risks were addressed, and all mechanisms worked to preserve and grow capital.
This model became a platform for the client’s new projects and is currently used as an exemplary structure in private investment consulting.
Comprehensive legal support allowed the client not only to protect his assets across multiple jurisdictions but also to build an effective and transparent international capital management structure. With the right strategy, the investor achieved reliable protection, optimized tax burdens, and opened new opportunities for business expansion globally.
