Recent commentary in the Australian Financial Review on Thomson Financial’s M&A Legal Adviser Tables for the first six months of 2003, highlighted: “Mallesons Stephen Jaques has captured the lion’s share of the legal work associated with the rebound in mergers and acquisitions and is now the nation’s dominant law firm in this lucrative area.”

According to Thomson Financial, Mallesons completed 19 mergers and acquisitions valued at US$10.834 billion in the first six months of 2003. This placed the firm at the top of the Thomson Financial table for completed transactions in Australia/New Zealand with a 60 percent market share.

These results led to the Australian Financial Review stating that Mallesons now “has a clear lead over the other top-tier firms in this practice area...”

Mallesons’ M&A Partner Tony Bancroft commented: “We are currently very busy right across the M&A practice and we have been pleased to have been involved in the most significant deals to date this year, including Xstrata/MIM, AMP Defender, the AMP demerger and Burns Philp/Goodman Fielder. Early indications are that this healthy level of activity will continue this year.

“While the equity capital markets remain relatively flat globally, Australia is currently relatively buoyant. For example, the Promina float at $2 billion is currently the largest IPO globally this year,” he said.

Mr Bancroft also noted that demergers were likely to be a continuing phenomenon. “While tax relief has been of some assistance, recent demergers have shown that the sum of the parts can be greater than the sum of the whole in terms of market value. The market therefore likes them,” he concluded.

THOMSON FINANCIAL LEGAL ADVISER LEAGUE TABLE

Australia/New Zealand - Completed