Nilesh Ashar

Nilesh Ashar is an international tax and corporate tax specialist with more than 25 years of tax experience. Mr. Ashar has advised clients on complex tax engagements in sectors such as real estate, financial services, private equity, oil and gas, retail and family offices across the Middle East, India, the UK and Europe.

Mr. Ashar has been based in Dubai since 2012, following stints in India and London. He brings a range of tax experience to FTI Consulting’s clients, including advisory services focused on corporate and international tax matters, cross-border tax structuring, M&A tax, economic substance, tax governance, transfer pricing and VAT. He has extensively advised Gulf Cooperation Council (“GCC”) Family Groups and multinational enterprises (“MNEs”) on tax structuring and tax optimization initiatives, including advising them on tax change management programs such as United Arab Emirates (“UAE”) corporate tax and VAT implementation, transfer pricing strategies and overall tax risk management frameworks.

Mr. Ashar also brings a wealth of experience in helping organisations and regulatory authorities identify and manage tax risks, particularly in the context of evolving tax legislations in the Middle East, including advising on their effective tax rates and improving their tax processes in the ever-evolving business and transactional environment. More recently, in the UAE, Mr. Ashar is currently leading UAE corporate tax assessments for large UAE-headquartered groups and advising clients on the impact of the UAE corporate tax on their operational structure and transfer pricing policies.

Prior to joining FTI Consulting, Mr. Ashar spent time with multiple Big Four firms, during which he set up the India Tax Desk in London, led the international and M&A practice for a Big Four Firm and set up the international tax practice for a boutique firm.

Additionally, Mr. Ashar is a regular speaker at seminars, conferences, client workshops and various industry forums and has contributed to many thought leadership pieces in the tax arena.

Relevant Experience:

• Advised several UAE-headquartered groups on UAE corporate tax implementation projects
• Advised UAE sovereign wealth funds (“SWFs”) and other UAE-headquartered groups on their global transfer pricing compliances under Country-by-Country Reporting regimes
• Led Global Minimum Tax/Pillar 2 engagements for leading UAE and GCC-headquartered businesses
• Advised on a global private equity (“PE”) firm’s acquisition of a visa processing group
• Advised a UAE-headquartered global logistics player’s acquisitions in Australia and the United States
• Advised on a global PE firm’s acquisition of a large healthcare group in India and the Middle East
• Advised on pre-IPO diligence and structuring of hotels and energy companies
• Led the tax due diligence and structuring for two proposed carve-outs in the energy and utilities sector