Sarah is a specialist in stamp duty and land tax who provides her clients with commercial, tax effective structuring advice.
Sarah’s specialist advisory services include advising on commercial transactions ranging from property deals, mergers and acquisitions, privatisations, capital raisings, group reorganisations, reorganisations in preparation of listing, fund restructuring and fund transactions, leasing arrangements, and financing arrangements. She also has extensive experience in drafting stamp duty and land tax clauses, warranties and indemnities. Sarah also acts for clients in revenue investigations and objections, and appeals in assessments and determinations.
Sarah is known for being a knowledge leader and for creating informative, user-friendly publications / seminars / podcasts / workshops for her clients, helping them to identify opportunities and to quickly understand changes in legislation, case law, and the administrative practices of the state-based revenue offices.
Sarah is recognised as an industry specialist as evidenced by the Taxation Institute of Australia’s requests for Sarah to present at the State Taxes Convention for multiple years. Sarah is also the Chair of the Property Council of Australia’s Victorian and Taxation and Economic Trends Committee.
Some of Sarah's major work highlights include:
- Aware Real Estate: on its acquisition of Home HQ shopping centre in Artarmon
- IP Generation: on its acquisition of David Jones Bourke Street Mall in Melbourne
- Qualitas and Gurner: on their mixed-use Jam Factory precinct, Melbourne
- The Consortium (IFM Investors, QSuper, AustralianSuper and Global Infrastructure Partners): on the acquisition of Sydney Airport
- The Lonsdale Consortium: as the leaseholder for the Port of Melbourne on its negotiations with the State Government of Victoria
- AMP Capital: on its investment (with others) in Wynyard Place for $1.8b
- Australian Unity: on the $1.1b Herston Quarter project - development of health, hospital, aged care and retail premises
- State Government of Victoria: over station developments (Metro Tunnel)
- Tetris: on the Homes Victoria Ground Lease Model 1 and 2, and Plenary on the Homes Victoria Ground Lease Model 3 - initiative to deliver social, affordable, and market rental housing
- Macquarie Asset Management: on its Australian investment platforms for residential facilities
- Greystar: on its student accommodation projects
- US Group Hometown: on its takeover of budget accommodation provider Gateway Lifestyle Group
- Quadrant: on its acquisition of Freedom Furniture
- PEP: on its acquisition of the Opal Aged Care Group
- Macquarie and EKU Energy: on the structuring and construction of the Hazelwood Battery Project (Australia’s largest privately funded utility scale battery)
- NBN Co: on the 2011 agreements with Telstra and Optus including drafting stamp duty legislative exemptions
- Macquarie: on water licences and allocations; cotton production properties; primary production properties including orchards
- Sembcorp: on its acquisition of Alinta Energy
