Gallagher, the global insurance broking and risk management company, has announced the appointment of Sarah Dezes to its fast-growing Private Equity and M&A practice (PEMA) as Head of Tax Insurance, France, further extending its footprint of in-country client-focused advisory expertise in one of the fastest growing classes of the insurance market.
Sarah will join Gallagher on 17 August 2026, increasing the PEMA practice's presence in France and across Europe. Her appointment follows Charles Amblard, who recently joined Gallagher in France as Senior Advisor with a pan-European remit to drive client relationship development and expand the presence of Gallagher within Europe's private equity and M&A communities in a pre-deal and post-deal value creation context.
Based in Paris, Sarah will lead Gallagher's tax insurance offering in France, structuring tax insurance solutions for corporates and private capital funds in both M&A and non-transactional contexts. With more than 15 years' experience advising on tax risk in M&A transactions, she brings a deep understanding of how specific tax exposures are identified, negotiated and structured which will ensure Gallagher is optimally positioned to deploy tax liability insurance solutions, as part of the broader Gallagher PEMA proposition.
Sarah brings a dual background in law and finance, allowing her to combine deep technical expertise with a broader understanding of deal dynamics and stakeholder priorities. Fluent in French, Spanish and English, she brings a genuinely multicultural perspective to cross-border transactions. Sarah joins Gallagher from PwC Société d'Avocats, where she spent 15 years as a qualified lawyer, latterly as Senior Director within the M&A Tax team, advising corporates and private equity sponsors on complex mid-cap and large-cap transactions. Throughout her career, she has built extensive experience leading and developing teams across multiple jurisdictions.
Alistair Lester, Gallagher CEO for Private Equity and M&A, UK & EMEA, said: "Sarah's unique blend of expertise, track record in tailoring tax solutions and experience in providing strategic counsel make her the ideal individual to support and advise our clients in France. She is a fantastic addition to our fast-growing multidisciplinary PEMA team, and another great example of the talent being drawn to Gallagher, excited by what we are building for clients across a broad range of capabilities. We're taking a proactive approach to maximizing value creation, both within the deal environment and beyond, and Sarah's zest for helping clients navigate even the most complex scenarios chimes brilliantly with our approach."
Sarah Dezes commented: "The passion and proactivity of Gallagher's approach to supporting private equity and M&A clients beyond the deal environment is infectious, and I'm excited to become part of a team building something new and all-encompassing. I'm looking forward to working with colleagues across Europe and further afield as we pull together our advisory and insurance expertise for clients' tangible benefit."
Alex Nagler, CEO of Gallagher in Europe, added: "Another fantastic hire by Alistair and the PEMA practice. We're delighted Sarah is joining Gallagher's European business as we expand our presence across Europe's core markets and continue to diversify our in-country areas of advisory expertise."
Globally, Gallagher has been expanding its M&A, private capital and portfolio solutions operations over the past 12 months, building out a multidisciplinary team of specialists across EMEA and in the US.
In the specialist tax insurance arena, the team operates on a cross-border basis helping to bring clarity and certainty to tax risk situations that arise both domestically and cross-border in both transactional and non-transactional situations.
This team now includes international tax and M&A lawyer Adriana Carvalho Assuncao who joined as Director in February from KPMG, while Tom Hughes joined in January as Director from Deloitte. Both are based in the UK working with Giles Hambly who leads the UK Tax Practice and Abi Hams who joined from Deloitte earlier in 2025. This followed the September appointment of tax insurance specialists Cristina Montserrat Chaparro Vaquero as Executive Director, and Pau Lopez Fornons as Associate Director, to support clients across Iberia. Both were formerly with PWC. Prior to that, Joyce Koch (Executive Director) and Vera Dembski (Associate Director) were appointed as M&A tax insurance broking specialists, supporting clients across Benelux and Germany. Both have previous experience at Deloitte.
Gallagher's PEMA practice offers specialist services and indemnity solutions for private capital and corporate transactions including risk and insurance due diligence, pension and benefit due diligence, warranty & indemnity, structured credit, tax liability and contingent liability, which are increasingly embraced among private equity, other funds and corporates undertaking transactions to help them mitigate increased risks caused by the current economic uncertainty.