Ameek is director of Sullivan's Tax Department and a former member of the firm's Management Committee. He concentrates his practice in structuring corporate mergers and acquisitions, designing REIT transactions and financial instruments and working on cross-border financings and acquisitions. Ameek has represented public and private REITs in an array of real property sectors, including: business storage facilities; cold storage facilities; communications towers; data centers; dark and lit fiber; digital billboards; distributed antenna systems; foreign real estate; hotels and travel centers; industrial properties; mortgage REITs; multifamily residential; office buildings; retail properties; senior living facilities; solar, wind and power infrastructure; timberlands; transmission and distribution lines; and vineyards, greenhouses and other agricultural properties.

Ameek is nationally recognized for his work in REIT conversions and REIT cross-border matters.

Ameek Ponda Tax Forum Presentation on REITs (PDF)

Representative Client Work

  • Designed tax structure for well over 1,000 M&A deals
  • Converted C corporations to public REITs in the travel centers, communication towers, business storage and data center industries
  • Designed tax structure for first REIT-to-REIT spin-off
  • Introduced Irish, Canadian and Singapore investors into U.S. real estate deals on a tax-efficient basis
  • Negotiated novel M&A structures including leveraged partnerships and master prepaid leases
  • Implemented efficient tax structures for REITs investing in 50 countries throughout Europe, Asia and Latin America
  • Defended the portfolio interest exemption from IRS challenge to an Islamic law-compliant transaction denominated as a lease rather than a loan

Bar & Court Admissions

  • Massachusetts

Education

  • LL.M., Taxation, valedictorian, Boston University School of Law
  • J.D., magna cum laude, Harvard Law School
  • B.A., summa cum laude, Harvard College

Community Engagement

  • Board of Regents, American College of Tax Counsel
  • Board of Directors, Tax Analysts
  • American Law Institute
  • National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts
  • International Fiscal Association
  • National Tax Association
  • Internal Revenue Service Advisory Council (IRSAC) 
  • Charter Member and former Secretary, The Indus Entrepreneurs-Boston
  • American, Massachusetts and Boston Bar Associations
  • South Asian Bar Association
  • Chair, Board of Advisors, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company
  • Adjunct Professor, Boston University School of Law
  • Lecturer on Law, Harvard Law School

Languages

  • Hindi
  • Urdu

Awards & Honors

  • Chambers USA, Recognized Practitioner in Tax  (2006-2020), REITs (2013-2020)
  • Best Lawyers' 2012 & 2017 Boston Tax Law Lawyer of the Year
  • Best Lawyers in America® (2008-2021)
  • The Legal 500 U.S. (2007-2020)
  • 'Leading Lawyer' in REITs, The Legal 500 U.S. (2017-2020)
  • Massachusetts Super Lawyers (2004-2020)
  • Boston Business Journal's 40-under-40 (2007)

Seminars & Presentations

  • "Tax Planning for U.S. Inbound Investment – Defining the Boundaries," 13th Annual NYU/KPMG Tax Lecture Series (April 2013)
  • "U.S. REITs Investing Globally," International Tax Institute, Inc., New York, NY (January 2013)
  • "Deal With It: Managing Dealer v. Investor Status," American Bar Association, Section of Taxation 2012 Fall Meeting, Boston, MA (September 2012)
  • Ameek Ashok Ponda Interviewed on WGBH's "Greater Boston" (December 2008)
  • "Legal Issues for Entrepreneurs," TIE Young Entrepreneurs, Waltham, MA (February 2008)
  • "REITs Abroad," Boston Tax Forum, Boston, MA (October 2007)
  • "Financial, Tax and Legal Issues in Off Shore Timberland Investment," World Forest Institute, Portland, OR (September 2007)
  • "Get Into Global Markets: Bringing Indian Business to Massachusetts," South Asian Bar Association of Greater Boston (July 2007)
  • "Attracting Foreign Capital to Invest in U.S. Real Estate," NAREIM, Chicago, IL (June 2007)
  • "Legal, Tax and Financial Strategies for Doing Business in India," Moderator, ATLAS Legal, New York, NY (April 2007)
  • "Timber Sector Issues," Moderator, NAREIT 2007 Law & Accounting Conference, Miami, FL (March 2007)
  • "Cross Bordering Lawyering," National Business Institute’s International Taxation Seminar, Newton, MA (September 2006)
  • "State of the Economy," Moderator, ACG Growth Conference, Boston, MA (June 2006)
  • "Globalization Business Roundtable," CNBC Telecast, India (May 2006)
  • "Tax Issues for Overseas Investors in U.S. REITs," Moderator, NAREIT 2006 Law & Accounting Conference, La Quinta, California (March 2006)
  • "Globalization Strategies for Emerging Corporates: Operationalizing Winning Strategies," Citigroup Commercial Banking Group, Thought Leadership Roundtables, Mumbai and New Delhi, India (February and May 2006, October 2005)
  • "Expanding in India," IndUS Business Journal Seminar, Boston, MA (February 2006)
  • Adjunct Professor, Boston University Graduate Tax Program seminars in Business Tax Planning, Corporate Mergers and Acquisitions, and International Transactions 

Practices

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