Private Equity

King & Wood Mallesons acts for a substantial proportion of Australia's leading ASX-listed companies and major international players on commercially significant transactions. Asia-headquartered and substantially focussed on the region, it offers a particularly powerful capability for China-related transactions as well as for broader global deals. The team regularly acts on complex sponsor-led private equity transactions and has a wealth of experience on the full investment life-cycle, including acquisition finance, securities, tax and funds. Its versatile range embraces strengths in the energy, resources and financial services spaces in addition to the agribusiness, healthcare and infrastructure sectors.

"They have an exceptional understanding of the law and market, integrated consideration of both business and legal issues and risks, as well as clear and comprehensive communication with the client."

"They are commercial and responsive, with very high attention to detail. They are able to think outside the box and come up with creative solutions."

"They have great commerciality, leadership and attention to detail."

King & Wood Mallesons advised Healius on its defence of a hostile takeover bid by Australian Clinical Labs.

King & Wood Mallesons advised Hancock on the acquisition of strategic stakes in two ASX-listed lithium companies, Liontown Resources and Azure Minerals.

Stephen Minns, based in Melbourne, assists clients on a broad range of mandates including both public M&A transactions and general corporate and board-related advice.

David Friedlander is a leading Sydney-based corporate practitioner who advises clients across a broad range of mandates including takeover bids, securities offerings and shareholder activism issues. "David is an excellent corporate lawyer and provides a first-class service." "He's the best lawyer in Australia."

Mark McNamara leads the private equity team from the Sydney office and acts personally for a prestigious roster of private equity clients on a variety of M&A transactions, including both leveraged and managed buyouts. "Mark is a very effective lawyer and is particularly good at orchestrating complex negotiations and bringing parties together." "He is great, just really experienced, commercial, accessible and very easy to work with." "He is a superstar."

Jason Watts offers a wealth of market experience, embracing, among other matters, public M&A, takeovers and corporate governance issues. He is based in King & Wood Mallesons' Sydney office. "Jason is very even-tempered, which is often important in contested M&A activity. He is also very pragmatic and commercial."

Peter Stirling advises extensively on both transactional and corporate governance mandates and frequently assists clients from the energy, natural resources and financial services sectors. He is based in Melbourne.

Alex Elser, based in Sydney, acts regularly on significant transactions for many of the most prominent Australian and international private equity houses. "Alex is an excellent operator, provides very commercial advice, is very clever and is able to come up with solutions for complicated situations." "The thing I like about her is how diligent she is. She really thinks about things from a client's perspective and moves things forward, which is great." "Alex's strengths are his responsiveness, incredibly thorough preparation and clarity."

Lee Horan is a leading member of the King & Wood Mallesons private equity team in Sydney and offers over 20 years' experience of acting in the space for leading national and international private equity houses.

Meredith Paynter is based in Sydney and maintains, in addition to a broad range of corporate and M&A capabilities, a close focus on transactions in the food and agribusiness sectors, including takeovers, joint venture investments and schemes of arrangement. "Meredith is good at dealing with complexity. She keeps negotiation terms very tight and is a very disciplined transaction partner." "Meredith has a good commercial and well-rounded perspective on things."

Nicola Charlston is held in high esteem for her work on various M&A transactions, as well as corporate governance and restructuring advice. She regularly acts on healthcare sector deals.

Roger Davies is based in Perth and is highly experienced in the handling of significant domestic and cross-jurisdictional M&A transactions, particularly those involving major players in Australia's resources sector.

Will Heath has made a name for his work in matters pertaining to complex acquisitions and sales. He is based in Melbourne. "He is a pleasure to work with: intelligent, practical, sensible and responsive." "He is transparent, an effective negotiator and an excellent communicator."