Neon expands M&A team with new hire

Specialist Lloyd's insurer Neon has expanded its M&A (mergers and acquisitions) insurance team with the appointment of Suhail Qureshi as tax underwriter. He joins from law firm Dentons.

Qureshi was a tax partner at Dentons and advised on a variety of tax issues, including securitisations, employee incentives and SDLT. He has worked closely with the Neon team for many years, advising on a range of tax insurance issues and transactions.

Qureshi will play a key role in supporting Neon’s M&A team, reporting to Dawn Bhoma, head of tax liability insurance. Neon hired a specialist M&A team in 2015 and expanded its M&A consortium to £100 million for 2018. Recent appointments to its tax liability team also include former Dentons Partner Andrew Thornton.

Rob Brown, head of M&A insurance at Neon, commented: “Hiring Suhail further demonstrates our technical capabilities in a highly specialist and complex class of insurance which requires underwriting excellence. Our aim is to be the lead tax insurer in London and core to this strategy is having a team that can offer genuine expertise in both tax and insurance.

"Suhail is a great appointment and his considerable experience will create excellent value for our clients. The team and I know him well, having worked closely together for a number of years, and are very pleased to welcome him to Neon.”

Bhoma added: “Neon is one of the few insurers with the expertise to lead and structure these specialist tax insurances. Our tax team prides itself on providing top-level expertise and the addition of Suhail gives us the resource and capability we need to respond quickly to deal timescales.”

“With significant capacity of £100m, we can provide a high level of protection, often freeing up sale proceeds and providing a strong financial covenant. As clients and advisors make more and more use of insurance for tax risks, it enables parties to an M&A deal to release a deadlock and facilitate funds or liquidators to make distributions without holdbacks or delays.”