U.S. spending on prescription drugs increased 13 percent in 2014, driven by new specialty products and significant price increases for many branded products. A leading antiviral medication for hepatitis C reported sales of $10.3 billion, with a full 12-week course of therapy reaching $84,000 per patient. The average price of one type of insulin has increased from $600 to $1,200 per vial in less than three years. Due to generic drug industry consolidation, many generic drug prices have also exploded.

A&M continues to strengthen its Private Equity Performance Improvement Group with the additions of Senior Directors Andrew Bronstein based in Philadelphia, Mike Darland based in Boston, Klaus Weisenberger based in San Francisco, and James Guyette based in Chicago. These hires enhance A&M’s ability to meet the continuing demand for value creation with performance improvement services that address stakeholders’ needs.

The subject of master limited partnerships (MLPs) has made its way back into the tax headlines recently because of the Treasury and IRS’s issuance of proposed regulations in early May 2015 (see Federal Register, Vol. 80, No. 87 or 26 CFR Part 1).

In case you have missed the financial headlines, there is an ongoing heavyweight bout in the federal tax controversy arena that we should all be watching with interest. It may not have the aura of the recent Floyd Mayweather Jr. versus Manny Pacquiao bout in Las Vegas, but this one could shape the manner in which the IRS deals with certain situations in this purported era of government resource constraints.

Brazil, the “B” in BRIC, is the latest of the emerging markets to signal to multinationals that the global corporate citizen is responsible for ethical businesses practices. After nearly four years of debate, the Brazilian National Congress passed, and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff signed, Law No. 12,846, the Brazilian Clean Company Act, which took effect on January 29, 2014. Previously, Brazil had no specific law that held corporations accountable for the corrupt actions of their employees, agents and intermediaries.

Dhruv Sarda, Managing Director and leader of A&M’s Corporate M&A Strategy and Post-Merger Integration practice in Europe, will speak at the fifth annual Mergermarket European Corporate M&A Forum in London on 17th June.

There is a little known opportunity that many hospitality companies are unaware of that can provide an immediate tax cash savings. If you have conducted renovations to your hotel in the past, you may be in a position to take advantage of recently released Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) regulations. This article provides a brief background of the opportunity, outlines the characteristics of companies who can benefit, and then provides a roadmap for how to take advantage of this benefit.

Marios Koliopoulos presented key challenges and opportunities of the European banking sector at the Center of Financial Studies of National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and SAS Greece, Cyprus Bulgaria.

All banks’ financial soundness depends primarily on their ability to effectively identify measure, monitor and control risk. Most financial risks, such as credit, market and interest rate risk, can be measured directly or estimated with reasonable certainty. Industry control measures for these risks are well-developed. However, some risks, such as operational risk, can be more difficult to measure. Nevertheless, these risks can have a materially adverse impact on a bank’s financial performance and reputation if not properly controlled.

This edition of Tax Advisor Weekly discusses some of the potential U.S. tax consequences of failing to provide the fair market value and adjusted basis as required under the new GRA regulations, explains how the new GRA regulations may affect the reporting requirements for international tax reporting forms that are unrelated to outbound transfers of stock (which generally require a GRA), and provides some recommendations for avoiding potential adverse U.S. tax consequences for failing to provide adequate information to the IRS relating to the fair market value and adjusted basis of certain assets.

Although more Americans than ever have private insurance or Medicaid coverage due to the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act (PPACA), access to care continues to worsen as the number of primary care physicians has not kept pace with the clinical demands of an aging population and newly covered patients. The need for additional care settings, along with recent increases in patient out-of-pocket costs, has prompted the growth of non-traditional health care delivery settings such as retail clinics and urgent care centers.

Although more Americans than ever have private insurance or Medicaid coverage due to the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act (PPACA), access to care continues to worsen as the number of primary care physicians has not kept pace with the clinical demands of an aging population and newly covered patients. The need for additional care settings, along with recent increases in patient out-of-pocket costs, has prompted the growth of non-traditional health care delivery settings such as retail clinics and urgent care centers.

Chief Director of Alvarez & Marsal (Greece) George Mantzavinatos, pointed out that Greece is on the international investment map. However, Stelios Zavvos, president and CEO, Zeus Capital Partners, noted that large investors check the performance of ten-year bonds, GDP growth and liquidity before investing in Greece.

This edition of Tax Advisor Weekly explores the Kafkaesque nature of Personal holding companies (PHCs) and recounts the story of how an antiquated law that was enacted to curtail certain long-abandoned tax avoidance transactions is, more than eighty years later, still wreaking havoc on the lives of modern-day taxpayers.