1st Summit Doing Business in Puerto Rico

March 27, 2007, Waldorf Hotel, New York

O'Neill & Borges LLC, was a key sponsor of the P.R. Chamber of Commerce’s 1st Summit Doing Business in Puerto Rico, which took place on March 27, 2007, at the Waldorf Hotel in New York City. In general, the Summit provided an overview of the current economic climate of Puerto Rico, as well as Puerto Rico’s current and future financial and credit position, explained the key advantages that Puerto Rico offers over other countries, and addressed economic initiatives available to potential investors and entrepreneurs.

The Summit gathered key speakers and participants from both public and private sectors of Puerto Rico’s economy, including the Governor of Puerto Rico, Hon. Aníbal Acevedo Vilá, the Secretary of the Department of Economic Development and Commerce of Puerto Rico, Ricardo Rivera, the Chairman of the Board of the Government Development Bank of Puerto Rico, Alfredo Salazar, Economist José J. Villamil, María E. Ferré, President, El Nuevo Día, Inc., Richard L. Carrión, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors, Popular Inc., Stephen P. Holmes, Chairman and CEO, Wyndham Worldwide Corporation, Julio Ramírez, President, Latin America, Burger King, Natale S. Ricciardi, President/Team Leader, Pfizer Global Manufacturing, Dr. Fabrizio Bonnani, Senior Vice President of Manufacturing, Amgen, Inc., Craig Herkert, President and CEO of the Americas, Wal-Mart International, David Chafey, President, Banco Popular de P.R., Kenneth McGrath, Senior Management Director for Institutional Business and Vice President of the Board of Directors, Popular Securities, and Cyril Meduña, President, Advent-Morro Equity Partners.

The Summit featured Walter F. Chow, Esq., Partner in the Corporate Department of O'Neill & Borges LLC, as one of its key speakers, who discussed the legal and tax implications of investing and doing business in Puerto Rico. Among the local (P.R.) tax statutes discussed by Mr. Chow were income taxes, municipal taxes, sales taxes, and property taxes. Mr. Chow also summarized various federal and local tax incentives potentially available to investors in Puerto Rico, such as the Controlled Foreign Corporation incentive, local incentives for manufacturing, local incentives for export service and regional headquarters, local tax credit for purchase of failing exempt businesses, local incentives for tourism projects, local tax credit for exportation of products manufactured by locally owned companies, and Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs).

Mr. Chow has more than 30 years of experience in tax planning and in negotiating tax exemption grants for clients. He also has an active legislative affairs practice, assisting private clients in drafting and enacting legislation, and assisting the Puerto Rico government in drafting various legislative projects, including the Tax Incentives Act of 1998, the Tourism Development Act of 1993, the Convention Center Authority Act and amendments to the Games of Chance Act.