Current Practice

Abdol Mostafavi is a Senior Associate in the Sydney office of Greenwoods & Freehills Pty Limited.  Abdol commenced his career in 1998 with one of the major international accounting firms.  He was a Senior Manager in the tax division of this firm prior to joining Greenwoods & Freehills in February 2007.
Abdol advises on a wide range of corporate tax issues, with a particular focus on the banking and finance sector, M&A transactions and corporate group restructures.
Abdol’s particular areas of expertise include the Tax Consolidation regime, international tax, the taxation of financial arrangements, and the taxation of airlines and leasing transactions.

Industry Experience

Soon after joining Greenwoods & Freehills, Abdol was seconded to Qantas for 2 months (at the specific request of Qantas) to assist Qantas Group Tax with all the tax aspects of the takeover bid by the Airline Partners Australia (APA) consortium.

Abdol has extensive experience in managing the Tax Consolidation projects of large corporate groups (including Westpac, Qantas and ALSTOM).  He has also provided a significant amount of advice to Australian multinationals in relation to the restructuring of their corporate groups, and due diligence investigations in the context of merger and acquisition transactions (including the divestment of a number of business units by ALSTOM in 2004 and 2005; the float of Goodman Fielder in 2005; the disposal by Tenix of its Defence business unit and the restructure of its group; various M&A transactions by AGL Energy; and the acquisition of Courtyard Marriott North Ryde by Mirvac Wholesale Hotel Fund).

Some of the significant matters that Abdol has advised on include Macquarie Group’s participation in various funds; the tax treatment of hybrid financial instruments; the impact of Division 250 on Westfield’s portfolio of overseas shopping centres; and Westfield’s investment in the London Stratford shopping, office and entertainment complex.

Abdol has been responsible for advising on the day-to-day tax affairs of several large corporate groups (including Qantas, Westpac, Woolworths, ALSTOM and GrainCorp).

Professional Background

Abdol holds Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Laws degrees from the University of New South Wales and a Master of Laws degree from the University of Sydney. In 2007, Abdol received the University of Sydney Foundation Prize for international tax.  He is also admitted as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of New South Wales.