At the appeal from the Upper Tribunal, HMRC claimed that Euromoney Institutional Investor plc had set up a scheme to avoid corporation tax when it sold a stake in a company.

During the transaction, Euromoney, which was a listed company at the time, but now operates as Delinian, agreed in principle to transfer its shares in Capital Data Limited to Diamond Topco Limited for $80.4m. Of that total, $21m (£16.9m) consisted of cash and the remainder of ordinary shares in Diamond.

The company later realised that it would be more tax efficient if it received the $21m in redeemable preference shares in Diamond instead of cash.