David Hoare

Profile

David has a significant reputation as a leading private equity and mergers and acquisitions lawyer who receives consistent and exceptional recommendations from his high-profile clients. He is the 'go-to' for complex corporate matters, drawing on over 25 years' experience leading clients through all aspects of complex corporate and commercial transactions.

David has developed a confident, common-sense approach to mergers and acquisitions. He draws on his domestic and international experience advising high-profile clients on their most important transactions. His practice focuses on private equity mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and commercial contracts.

David joined Russell McVeagh as a solicitor in 1999. He was admitted to practise in England and Wales in 2003 and spent the next four years polishing his international commercial law practice at Herbert Smith Freehills in London. David returned to New Zealand and Russell McVeagh in 2006 and became a partner in 2007. He has previously acted as Practice Group Chair for the National Corporate Advisory Group and Chair of Russell McVeagh's board.

Related expertise

Corporate Advisory

Mergers & Acquisitions

Private Equity

Agribusiness & Food

Energy & Renewables

International Trade & Investment

Experience

David’s reputation as a highly capable and focused merger and acquisition expert is evident in the significant matters he has advised on to date, including:

The Riverside Company on its acquisition, through its portfolio company Virtual IT Group, of The Instillery.
Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) on its acquisition of a stake in Connexa.
Guardians of New Zealand Superannuation on its investments in Direct Capital Funds 5, 6 and 7.
CDPQ on its acquisition of a stake in Connexa.
Woolworths on its acquisition of Beak & Johnston.
A bidder for Fusion5.
Fonterra on its investment in AgriZero.
Pacific Equity Partners on its acquisition of Healthia.
A bidder for VetPartners.
Pacific Equity Partners on its sale of UP Education.
Intermediate Capital Group / SCF Containers on the acquisition of CSL Containers.
Zimmer Biomet on its acquisition of Ossis.
A bidder for Yealands.
Pacific Equity Partners on its sale of Patties Foods to PAG.
A bidder for Ixom.
Fonterra on its sell down of GDT to NZX and EEX.
Healthe Care on its sale of Boulcott Hospital to Rangatira.
Pacific Equity Partners on its sale of Evolution Healthcare to QIC.
Pacific Equity Partners on its sell down of IntelliHub to Brookfield.
Pacific Equity Partners on its acquisition of Healthe Care.
A bidder for Natural Pet Food Group.
A bidder for Heritage Lifecare.
Evolution Healthcare on its acquisitions of Shore Surgery, Quay Park Surgical Centre and Evolve Rebab.
A bidder for the Toll Group's Global Express business.
Pacific Equity Partners on its acquisition of Modern Star.
LifeHealthcare on its acquisition of Cuplan Medical.
Pencarrow Private Equity on its investment in Skin Institute.
Guardians of New Zealand Superannuation on its Beachlands property investment.
Pencarrow Private Equity on its investment in NZ Frost Fans.
A bidder for O-I Glass.
Emergent Cold on the sale of its NZ business to Lineage Logistics.
Fonterra on its sale of DFE Pharma to CVC.
A bidder for Tip Top.
Pacific Equity Partners/intelliHUB on its acquisition of Metrix from Mercury Energy.
KKR on its acquisition of MYOB.
Keppel Infrastructure Trust on its acquisition of Ixom.
Pacific Equity Partners on its sale of Manuka Health New Zealand.
Pacific Equity Partners on its acquisition of Evolution Healthcare.
Bounty Fresh on its takeover of Tegel.
Emergent Cold on its acquisition of Polarcold.
A bidder for Stevenson Group's quarrying and concrete business.
Inenco Group on its acquisition of HCD Flow Technology.
Guardians of New Zealand Superannuation on its investment in NZ Gourmet.
Pencarrow Private Equity on its investment in The Collective.
Pencarrow Private Equity on its investment in Netlogix.

Riverside on its sale of Simcro to Datamars.
Woolworths on the sale of EziBuy to Alceon.
Daiken on its acquisition of Dongwha's MDF plant.
Lion on its acquisition of Panhead.
Jacob Douwe Egberts with its acquisition of Brewgroup.
Dell on the New Zealand aspects of its acquisition of EMC.
A bidder for Vector's gas assets.
The shareholders of Hally Labels on its sale to Hexagon/Mercury Capital.
Pacific Equity Partners on its acquisition of Academic Colleges Group.
Pacific Equity Partners on its acquisition of Manuka Health New Zealand.
Guardians of New Zealand Superannuation on its investment in Lanza Tech.
Pacific Equity Partners on the sale of Griffin's Foods to URC.
Lion on its acquisition of Morton Estate.
Clear Channel on the sale of its 50% interest in The Radio Network to APN.
Woolworths on its acquisition of EziBuy.
The shareholders of Torpedo7 on its partial sale to The Warehouse.
Lion on its acquisition of Emerson's Brewery.
A bidder for Orica's chemicals business.
CKI on its acquisition of Envirowaste from Ironbridge.
Avis on its acquisition of Apex Car Rentals.
The shareholders of Kapiti Coast Airport on its sale to Todd Property Group.
A bidder for the Pike River coal mine.
Pacific Equity Partners on its acquisition of 50% of SCA.
A bidder for MYOB.
The administrators of RedGroup on the sale of Whitcoulls and Bennetts.
Pacific Equity Partners on the sale of Tegel Foods Limited to Affinity Equity Partners.
Lion on its acquisition of Lindauer from Pernod Ricard.
Lion on the buyback of its Newmarket brewery site.
Merlin Entertainments Group on its acquisition of Kelly Tarltons.
Lion on the New Zealand aspects of its purchase by Kirin.
Fresh Start Bakeries on the acquisition of the New Zealand manufacturer of McDonalds hamburger buns.
Lion on its acquisition of Le Brun.
Nikko Principal Investments Australia on its acquisition of Esanda FleetPartners from ANZ.

David also has broader commercial experience, including advising:

Genesis Energy on its arrangements with Vector and NGC Metering to provide advanced meters to Genesis Energy's customers.
Fonterra on the establishment of global DairyTrade, Fonterra's online trading platform.
Fonterra in relation to the outsourcing of its ADM function to HCL Technologies.
Genesis Energy on the formation of its LNG regasification joint venture with Contact Energy.

Insights

Recognition

David is recognised as being at the 'pinnacle of the profession'. He is named as a leading lawyer by the Chambers and Partners Asia-Pacific and Chambers Global Guide for Corporate/Commercial law and in the Hall of Fame in the Legal 500 Asia-Pacific 2025 Guide. He is also recognised as a 'Highly Regarded' practitioner by IFLR 1000 2024/25 Guide for Private Equity and M&A; ranked by Chambers and Partners; listed in the Best Lawyers^® 2024 and 2025 New Zealand Guides, and as a distinguished practitioner for Corporate and M&A by AsiaLaw 2022.

Our Corporate Advisory team was named New Zealand's top deal firm at the 2019 New Zealand Law Awards, with David co-leading the team which won the 'Consumer, Media and Tech Deal of the Year' at the awards. The firm also won National Law Firm of the Year at the 2022 IFLR Asia Pacific Awards.

Client feedback in the Legal 500 and Chambers 2022-23 Guides emphasised David's expertise in the Corporate Advisory sector, stating David:

"is a great lawyer who's fantastic to deal with."
"is among the most experienced corporate lawyers in New Zealand. He is supported by an excellent team of partners who balance commerciality, pragmatism, and deep industry experience."
"is very commercial, he understands the compromise and balance required to get a deal done."

David is also a three-time winner of the New Zealand Corporate Lawyer of the Year title at the ILO Client Choice Awards (winning in 2019, 2017 and 2015), and was named in Australasian Lawyer magazine’s 2016 Hot List, as one of the top private practice lawyers in Australasia.