Mark A. Melton

Mark Melton is a tax attorney in Holland & Knight's Dallas office and serves as the co-chair of the Tax, Executive Compensation and Benefits Practice Group. He focuses on federal income taxation issues related to domestic and international transactions of private equity and hedge funds, as well as other investment partnerships, joint ventures, real estate investment trusts (REITs) and operating businesses.

More specifically, Mr. Melton assists clients with investment fund formation, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), real estate investment and development, and financial instruments and derivatives. He is experienced in a broad spectrum of tax issues such as complex partnership allocations, inbound and outbound cross-border investments, and investments by sovereign wealth funds, tax-exempt entities, international organizations and other institutional investors.

Prior to entering private practice, Mr. Melton served as a fund tax manager for a multibillion-dollar international private equity group. He is a certified public accountant (CPA) and a Level II candidate in the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) program.

Representative Experience

• Advised clients on the formation, acquisition and disposition of domestically controlled REITs
• Advised a private equity fund regarding restructuring of a public hotel company in a going-private transaction
• Advised on the structuring of both a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) formation and de-SPAC transaction
• Advised fund managers on initial structuring for large domestic and international private equity and mezzanine funds that are funded by both domestic and foreign investors
• Advised clients on tax issues related to domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions
• Advised a private equity fund on the calculation of currency gains and losses related to transactions in a multitiered foreign holding structure
• Advised numerous foreign investors on tax issues related to U.S. real estate transactions
• Advised a private equity group on tax allocations and reporting obligations for complex multitiered foreign investment structures
• Advised a U.S. multinational corporation on debt pushdown to European subsidiaries
• Advised private equity groups on acquiring assets in Europe, Asia, Mexico and Canada
• Advised private equity groups on withholding obligations for foreign partners and unrelated business taxable income (UBTI) issues for tax-exempt partners
• Advised a major U.S. bank on tax withholding and reporting obligations
• Advised an international investment group on currency transactions and hedging program

In addition to his professional activities, Mr. Melton is passionate about giving back to the community and serves in various leadership roles with several community service, civic and political organizations.