Russell McVeagh is pleased to have been named an Excellence Awardee (finalist) across multiple categories ahead of this year's NZ Law Awards, including Large Law Firm of the Year and Employer of Choice (>100 lawyers).
Litigation/Restructuring & Insolvency partner Alex MacDuff is up for Young Private Practice Lawyer of the Year, and the firm acted on 10 transactions that have been shortlisted across five Deal of the Year categories, including:
Debt Market Deal of the Year
- NZ$650 million pool asset-backed securitisation by UDC Finance Limited, led by Banking & Finance partner Deemple Budhia.
- Issuance of NZ$1.1 billion inaugural sustainable financing bonds by New Zealand LGFA, led by Deemple Budhia.
M&A Deal of the Year
- Acquisition of 50 percent of Vector Limited's metering business by QIC, led by Corporate Advisory partners Ian Beaumont and Ben Paterson.
- NZ$1.4 billion acquisition of HSBC’s New Zealand prime residential mortgage portfolio by Pepper Money, securitisation financing for mezzanine lender led by Deemple Budhia.
Mid-market Deal of the Year
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- Acquisition of Morrison & Co's NZ infrastructure assets by Amber Infrastructure Group, led by Corporate Advisory partner Mei Fern Johnson.
- Acquisition of Totara Learning by Tenzing, led by Corporate Advisory partner Tom Gillespie.
Project Finance Deal of the Year
- Financing of Connexa's acquisition of 2degrees' mobile cell tower assets, led by Banking & Finance partner David Weavers.
- Development and project financing of 63 MW Lauriston solar farm by Genesis Energy and FRV Australia, led by Banking & Finance partners Jesse Fairley and Bevan Peachey.
- Social housing project of Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, led by David Weavers.
Insolvency and Restructuring Deal of the Year
- Proposed debt restructuring of Ruapehu Alpine Lifts, led by Litigation / Restructuring & Insolvency partners Matt Kersey and Alex MacDuff.
The NZ Law Awards bring together industry leaders to celebrate excellence in the legal profession, recognising the outstanding achievements of firms, in-house legal teams, and other industry professionals.
A number of our clients have also been recognised in the shortlist for In-House Awards, and we wish them, and all of the other Excellence Awardees, the best of luck ahead of the Awards Ceremony and Gala Dinner on Thursday 28 November.
A full list of Excellence Awardees and Awards details is available here.
Last year, we scooped five of the top awards including Large Law Firm of the Year, Law Firm Leader of the Year for partner Allison Arthur-Young, Young Private Practice Lawyer of the Year for partner Bradley Aburn, and two Deal of the Year awards.