AREF Tax Committee Biographies

Christopher is an experienced tax advisor with over 20 years experience in the investment management industry.  He has been at Schroders since April 2006 and has expertise in a wide range of international taxes. Before Schroders he was at Deloitte for 8 years where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant and Chartered Tax Adviser, working in the banking, investment management, and real estate sectors as well as a period working on tax policy.
 
Christopher’s current focus is supporting the growth of the Private Assets business within Schroders through close working with the investment and product teams to meet investors' objectives and manage tax risks effectively, and providing tax due diligence and transaction support on acquisitions, both for the Schroders group and on behalf of investors.

A member of the Tax Committee of the Association of Real Estate Funds, Aaron advises companies and institutions on the tax implications of their business and transactions.

He is actively involved and experienced in the real estate investment fund sectors, in advising both domestic and overseas investors holding UK real estate, whether alone, in joint ventures, or in more widely-held structures. He also regularly advises on the tax aspects and negotiations of M&A transactions.

Nick is a Partner in the Tax team at CMS Cameron McKinnon Nabarro Olswang with experience in advising on all aspects of tax planning and structuring for corporate clients in relation to mergers and acquisitions, reorganisations and joint ventures.

Nick advises clients in respect of the tax efficient acquisition, development, investment and disposal of real assets. Nick also advises in relation to the establishment and operation of investment funds and joint venture arrangements, particularly in respect of UK and European investments.

Nick has been with CMS (previously Nabarro), since 2000, having previously worked at PwC in New Zealand. Nick has law and commerce degrees from Victoria University, Wellington and is also a member of the British Property Federation tax committee.

Irfan Butt is a tax partner at RSM UK in the London real estate tax team. He has over 15 years experience in advising on UK inward, outward and cross border tax structuring of real estate funds, real estate investment trusts, real estate investment platforms for international investors, joint venture arrangements, acquisition of property related performing and non-performing loans and work out strategies and real estate transactions undertaken by conventional and unconventional investors.

Irfan is a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and in England and Wales and an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Taxation and also holds an Islamic finance qualification from the Securities and Investment Institute. Irfan leads RSM on all HMT/HMRC real estate tax consultations and has been part of various working groups set up to consider the legislative changes and their impact on investors.

Irfan contributes to Tolley’s Property Taxes chapter on “Islamic Funding Structures” and Tolley’s International Tax Planning publications.

Will has worked at Aviva Investors since 2004 and is currently Head of Fund Structuring advising on UK and offshore real estate fund, infrastructure and traditional fund set ups. Previously Will was Head of Tax for Aviva Investors advising on a wide range of investment management tax issues including property transactions, M&A work and other non-property related fund issues.

Prior to joining Aviva, Will spent over 4 years in Ernst & Young's real estate tax team and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 2001. Will has a law degree from Exeter University.

Will is a member of the AREF Management Committee and previously chaired the AREF Tax Committee, taking an active part in lobbying tax authorities in relation to tax issues affecting AREF members.

Jason is a Tax Partner at Evelyn Partners, where he leads the Real Estate Tax team.

Jason has extensive experience in the real estate sector, advising various stakeholders including Funds and Investment/Asset Managers, REITs, Offshore Investors, Family Offices, Developers, Owner-Occupiers and Private Clients. He provides holistic tax advisory and compliance services throughout the real estate ownership lifecycle, from acquisition to exit, looking at UK direct taxes, VAT, stamp taxes, transfer pricing, capital allowances, and international taxes.

Jason has a particular focus on UK and pan-European Real Estate M&A, including financial and tax due diligence, tax structuring, SPA advice and tax forecasting / modelling. Jason works closely with real estate funds and investment managers and advises them on the key tax issues relating to them and their investors.

Jason is also a Stamp Taxes specialist. He is a member of the Stamp Taxes Practitioners Group and has extensive experience advising clients on matters in relation to Stamp Taxes, and their regional equivalents.

Kersten Muller is a Managing Director with Alvarez & Marsal Taxand LLP in London. He leads the Real Estate Team within the Financial Investor Practice. With more than 20 years of experience in the sector, Kersten specialises in structuring real estate funds and investment vehicles, tax-efficient structuring of UK, European and global real estate transactions and due diligence of property portfolios. Known for both his technical tax expertise and his commercial and pragmatic approach to real estate transaction, Kersten always looks for ways to move transactions forward and add significant value

John joined M&G in 2018, his present role is Head of Investment Management Tax. He is responsible for tax in relation to M&G’s real estate funds, alternative funds (excluding infrastructure) and traditional funds worldwide including tax advisory, compliance and tax issues relating to product development. Prior to joining M&G, John worked for Qatari Diar, the real estate development and investment arm of the sovereign fund of the State of Qatar, for 5 years in Doha and London with tax responsibility at various times for matters across Europe, Asia and the UK. John also acted as Finance Director for the Europe & Americas region towards the end of his time at Qatari Diar. Earlier in his career, John spent 9 years with Deloitte in London and Luxembourg primarily focussing on providing advice to private equity and institutional clients investing into international real estate. 
 
John is a graduate of the University of Sheffield, Heriot-Watt University, a Chartered Accountant and holds an Advanced Diploma in International Tax.

Camilla has provided tax advice to the Financial Services Group since 1990. She has wide experience of advising on the taxation of all types of investment funds and in particular advises fund management groups on new product development.

Camilla's UK work includes the tax structuring for authorised unit trust and OEIC launches and reconstructions, for both securities and property funds. She also advises on unauthorised funds, including exempt unauthorised unit trusts. Offshore, she advises on the structuring and restructuring of both traditional and alternative funds, both open and closed-ended.

Recently, Camilla has worked on a number of substantial property authorised investment fund (PAIF) projects, both new launches and conversions of existing institutional and retail funds, following her role as lead tax adviser in the conversion of the Royal London Exempt Property Unit Trust into a PAIF in 2010. She was also involved in the asset transfers required during the reconstruction of the Henderson International Property Fund into two Aviva funds.

Camilla has contributed chapters to Tolley's Taxation of Collective Investment, as well as articles to journals. She has been involved in many industry initiatives and is currently playing a leading role on the tax committee of the Association of Real Estate Funds (AREF) working with HM Revenue & Customs resolving the capital gains tax issues arising with PAIF conversions, and also working with HM Treasury on their tax transparent fund initiative.

Neil Stanford is a Real Estate Structurer within the Real Estate Product Finance & Structuring team at Standard Life Investments. Neil is responsible for providing global real estate specific asset and fund tax structuring solutions and advising on real estate related tax, structuring and regulatory matters. Neil also manages the team responsible for discharging the UK tax compliance and tax reporting obligations of Standard Life Investments' Real Estate business.  

Neil started his career at Standard Life Investments in 2005 in a general tax structuring role. Prior to joining Standard Life Investments, Neil worked for 5 years at KPMG gaining exposure to corporate tax compliance, advisory and international tax work.

Neil is a Chartered Tax Adviser.

Simon provides non-executive director services to real estate funds and investment groups domiciled in Jersey which invest into UK real estate.
He has more than 20 years’ experience within financial services, including being Global Head of Real Assets at Sanne Group Plc, a role which continued under the new ownership of Apex Group before making the change to providing governance services as a NED, licenced by the Jersey Financial Services Commission.
Simon is a Fellow of the Association of Chartered Accountants of England & Wales and a Fellow of the Association of Accounting Technicians.  He started his career in the Audit & Advisory business of Ernst & Young.

Kathy is currently the Head of Investment Management Tax at Legal & General, where she has responsibility for all tax matters impacting LGIM. Kathy is involved in strategic planning for new fund launches, international expansion of the business and real assets investments. Kathy has over 17 years tax experience, with the last 12 years focused on asset managers and funds in the UK and Europe. Prior to joining L&G, Kathy was a Senior Manager at PwC and EY and spent time working at a custody bank. Kathy has a deep experience in US tax as well as operational taxes for funds.

Leonie is a Partner with over 17 years’ experience in corporate tax specialising in real estate.
Leonie has advised a number of clients on structuring and investing into European and global real estate funds. She has also provided tax advice in relation to several significant recent real estate transactions in the UK and Europe.
Leonie’s clients include large sovereign wealth and pension funds, institutional fund managers and family office clients.

Jacqui provides policy guidance and secretariat services to AREF’s Board and Management Committee as well as many of AREF's committees and working groups.

Jacqui joined AREF in 2014 after working for over 25 years in fund compliance, client relationships and administration in the trustee and depositary sector.