Kicking off in the rapidly growing energy sector, David Friedlander and Nicola Charlston led a team to advise Nabors Energy Transition Corp on its entry into business combination with Australian world-leader in concentrated solar thermal power Vast Solar Pty Ltd. The deal, valued up to approximately $US586 million, will see Vast Ltd list on the NYSE and is an exciting indication of the nascent energy transition M&A market.
Vishal Ahuja and Shirley Cheng led a team to advise Transgrid on its $385m underwrite through the Federal Government’s Rewiring the Nation Plan to secure key supplies for its VNI West, HumeLink and EnergyConnect projects which together will reinforce the east coast transmission network and significantly increase the amount of renewable electricity that can be delivered across the National Electricity Market.
In M&A, Rhys Casey, Mark Vanderneut and Simon Cooke led a team to assist Greater Bank on its merger with Newcastle Permanent, renamed Newcastle Greater Mutual Group Ltd. The merger has enabled the creation of one of Australia’s largest customer owned banks with combined assets of approximately $20 billion and approximately 600,000 customers.
Over to capital markets, Ian Paterson and Rhys Casey led a team to advise Suncorp on the issue of its wholesale, floating rate, unsecured, subordinated notes 4 which raised A$250 million from institutional and wholesale investors.
In real estate, a team led by Felicity Savage advised Lendlease on a $520 million hotel sale at their One Circular Quay Sydney development to Tattarang. The hotel will be Australia’s first Waldorf Astoria by Hilton and will be located alongside the luxury residential tower currently being developed by Lendlease and Mitsubishi Estates Australia. Mitsubishi Estates Australia was advised by a team led by Stuart Dixon-Smith.
Thought leadership has also had a strong energy and ESG focus.
Vishal Ahuja recently weighed in on the energy space for the year ahead in a Lawyers Weekly article, ‘2023: The year of energy’. Vishal sees the continued growth of energy as a practice area with the transition imperative driving renewable projects, demand for regulatory advice and much more..
Sarah Yu has told Bloomberg & the AFR that ASIC’s first greenwashing court case - against superfund Mercer - underscores the need for greater ESG due diligence. KWM’s 2023 M&A in the City has an excellent succinct take on the rise of ESG DD as a key factor in M&A.
We also recently launched our annual DealTrends report on the Australian private M&A market. As we reflect on the year, we saw a landscape where investors experienced contrasting deal environments.
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