Burger King Backers to Avoid U.S. Anti-Inversion Penalty
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The group of investors who control Burger King Worldwide Inc. are using an unusual strategy to avoid the tax penalty that normally applies to shareholders of companies that shift their legal address out of the U.S.
The plan was disclosed today as part of Miami-based Burger King’s $11 billion stock-and-cash deal to buy Tim Hortons Inc. and adopt that coffee chain’s Canadian headquarters. The transaction is the first “inversion” announced since President Barack Obama called the strategy an “unpatriotic tax loophole” in late July and ordered regulatory changes to curb them.