TAX NEWS - 2010

GPS device maker Garmin completes transfer of incorporation to Switzerland from Cayman Islands

NEW YORK -- Navigation device maker Garmin Ltd. has completed the transfer of its place of incorporation to Switzerland from the Cayman Islands.

Thousands of international companies and hedge funds have traditionally been incorporated in offshore financial centers in the Caribbean and elsewhere, drawn by low tax rates and banking rules and legal systems that make it easy to move capital around the globe. But U.S. and European lawmakers and regulators have weighed a number of proposals aimed at cracking down on tax-haven abuses and collecting more tax revenue from multinational operations.

Other businesses that have shifted their holding companies from the Caribbean include insurance broker Willis Group Holdings Ltd., moving to Ireland from Bermuda, and insurer ACE Ltd., which moved to Zurich, Switzerland, from Cayman.

As part of the move, each outstanding share of Garmin Ltd. was exchanged for one share of a newly-formed Swiss holding company by the same name. Shares of the new company are listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the same symbol, "GRMN." The company's operational headquarters remain in Olathe, Kan.

Shares of Garmin fell 48 cents to $31.54 in morning trading Monday.