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Corporate Advisory

Getting the deal done

Our Corporate Advisory group is widely recognised as market-leading in New Zealand and the 'go-to' for complex corporate advisory and commercial work. We are known for investing in relationships, advising on ground-breaking transactions, and providing sophisticated, clear advice to significant local and international clients.

Our focus is on understanding the unique priorities of each client and delivering smart, innovative advice in a digestible way, so they can get on with ensuring the deal is a success.

Expertise

Our lawyers work across specialities to deliver advice on a broad range of issues to both local and international clients, ranging from NZX 50 corporates to private equity and fund managers.
Our areas of expertise include:

Experience

Some of the recent work we've done with clients includes advising:

  • QIC on its acquisition of a 50% interest in Vector's New Zealand and Australian metering business, valuing Vector metering at $2.51 billion.
  • Pacific Equity Partners on its sale of Evolution Healthcare to QIC.
  • Tilt Renewables on its NZ$3.24 billion takeover by way of scheme of arrangement.
  • Fonterra on its sale of its China farms, which consisted of two significant offshore transactions totalling $555 million.
  • Freightways on the acquisition of Big Chill, including the NZX compliance aspects of the transaction.
  • WEL Networks on the sale of its 85% stake in Ultrafast Fibre Holdings as part of the NZ$854 million sale of the entire business to First State Investments.
  • ANZ on the $762 million sale of its asset finance business, UDC Finance Limited, to Japan's Shinsei Bank.
  • Auckland International Airport on its NZ$1.2 billion capital raise by way of an underwritten placement and share purchase plan. The capital raising was the largest secondary offering in New Zealand history.
  • The underwriters of Ryman Healthcare's $902.4 million capital raise.
  • The underwriters of Heartland Group Holdings' $200 million equity raise.
  • Fonterra (as lead deal counsel) on the $633 million sale of its interest in DFE Pharma (a world-leading pharmaceutical company) to CVC (a leading European private equity fund).
  • Pacific Equity Partners on its acquisition and subsequent sale of Manuka Health New Zealand.
  • Westpac Group on the sale of its New Zealand life insurance business to Fidelity Life for NZ$400 million, including a 15-year life insurance distribution arrangement between Westpac NZ and Fidelity Life.
  • Advent International on its acquisition of NZ Pharmaceuticals. 
  • Trade Me on its $2.6 billion takeover by UK private equity firm Apax Partners by way of scheme of arrangement.
  • The underwriting syndicate of Goldman Sachs and Forsyth Barr on Sky TV's NZ$157 million placement and accelerated renounceable entitlement offer, which necessitated an NZX waiver.
  • National Australia Bank on its sale of its New Zealand life insurance business to Partners Life.
  • Jarden and Craigs Investment Partners as joint lead managers on the IPO, and listing on NZX and ASX, of My Food Bag. (the largest IPO in New Zealand since 2014).
  • The New Zealand Superannuation Fund on its formation of a NZ$300 million partnership with domestic property developer, Classic Group.
  • Fisher Funds on purchase of Kiwi Wealth.
  • Pacific Equity Partners on its sale of Patties Foods to PAG, and the sale of UP Education.
  • On the sale of Trustpower's retail business to Mercury Energy.

Awards and recognition

Our Corporate Advisory team is ranked 'Tier 1' for Corporate and M&A in the Legal500 Asia Pacific 2022 guide, Band 1 for Corporate / Commercial in Chambers Directories 2022 and 'Tier 1' for M&A by IFLR1000 2023. We were named 'Outstanding' in Corporate and M&A by AsiaLaw 2021.