BCA EU  /  Services  /  Corporate Structuring Advisory

Corporate structuring advisory.

We design and build cross-border corporate structures that are efficient, defensible and made to last — holdings, investment platforms and international groups, structured around real substance rather than paper.

What we advise on
Holding & group structures
Cross-border tax structuring
Investment vehicles & platforms
Substance & anti-abuse
The premise

A corporate structure is not a diagram — it is a set of decisions about ownership, tax, risk and jurisdiction that has to hold up years later, under scrutiny. Our work is to get those decisions right at the outset, and to build structures that do what they are meant to do without falling foul of the rules that govern them.

01 — What we do

The advisory, in six parts

01

Holding structures

Designing holding companies and group structures to consolidate ownership, channel dividends and support clean exits.

02

Jurisdiction selection

Choosing the right jurisdiction — Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium and beyond — for the role each entity plays.

03

Cross-border tax

Structuring flows across borders under treaties, EU directives and the participation exemption, with anti-abuse in mind.

04

Investment vehicles

Building SPVs, platforms and fund-adjacent structures for investors and sponsors.

05

Substance design

Establishing the real economic function that treaty and directive benefits depend on.

06

US–EU structures

Reconciling US tax rules — LOB, check-the-box, GILTI — with European structuring.

02 — How we work

A structure is a sequence, not a template

1

Understand the objective

What the structure must achieve — the assets, the investors, the flows, the exit — before any jurisdiction is chosen.

2

Map tax & regulation

Model the position across every relevant system — local tax, EU directives, treaties, and any US overlay.

3

Design the structure

Select jurisdictions and entities, define the layers, and set the financing and ownership architecture.

4

Build in substance

Design the real economic function — governance, people, decision-making — that makes benefits defensible.

5

Implement & maintain

Incorporate, operate and keep the structure and its documentation current against evolving rules.

03 — Areas of focus

Where we spend our time

Participation exemption

Structuring holdings to qualify for exemption of dividends and capital gains across European regimes.

Treaty & directive access

Ensuring structures qualify for reduced withholding under treaties and EU directives.

Anti-abuse resilience

Building for the PPT, LOB and beneficial-ownership tests so benefits survive scrutiny.

Transatlantic structuring

Reconciling US and European rules in structures that span both.

We do not sell structures off a shelf. We build the one that fits — and we build it to survive a look-through.
04 — What guides us

Three principles

01

Substance first

Every structure is built around genuine economic function. Form without substance is a liability, not an asset.

02

Built to last

We design for the rules as they are heading, not just as they are — structures that hold up over time.

03

Fit, not fashion

The right jurisdiction and vehicle for the actual objective — not whatever is in vogue.

05 — In short

Structuring that stands up

Whether the task is a European holding, an investment platform, a cross-border group or a transatlantic structure, the discipline is the same: understand the objective, model every system that touches it, choose the right jurisdiction and vehicle, and build in the substance that makes it defensible. Explore the underlying topics — the participation exemption, treaty networks, the Principal Purpose Test — or start a conversation.

— Explore

Related on BCA EU

Comparison

Belgium vs NL vs LU

Choosing between Europe’s core holding jurisdictions.

Compare →
Reference

Company formation

Incorporating across Europe — entities, capital, timelines.

Explore →
Reference

Investment SPV vehicles

Ring-fenced vehicles for investment structuring.

Explore →

Let’s design a structure that fits.

Book a consultation