Current practice

Tony’s practice centres on mergers and acquisitions and securities markets. He advises on listed company takeovers and mergers, including unsolicited deals involving applications to the Takeovers Panel, as well as negotiated public company mergers and private M&A deals. Tony is co-author of a leading book on public company mergers, Schemes, Takeovers and Himalayan Peaks. He is recognised in the Chambers and Partners Global Guide, and in the inaugural 2008 Australian edition of Best Lawyers. Tony is ranked ‘Highly recommended’ in the latest edition of PLC Which Lawyer? where he is described as an ‘established dealmaker’.

Industry experience

Mergers & acquisitions

Tony’s experience includes acting on the following transactions:

• Santos on its US$2.6 billion sale of coal seam methane assets to PETRONAS in relation to the GLNG project
• QBE’s A$8.7 billion scheme proposal to IAG
• Commonwealth Bank’s recent A$380 million acquisition of listed broker IWL by way of scheme
• Centennial Coal’s A$1.1 billion sale of Anvil Hill and its stake in Austral Coal to Xstrata
• The Gloucester Coal/Xstrata scheme proposal and CAMEC’s takeover for OmegaCorp
• Tullow Oil plc’s $1.47 billion acquisition by way of scheme for Hardman Resources (with US$1 billion debt facility). This deal was nominated as Energy & Resources Deal of the Year at the 2007 ALB Law Awards
• Peabody Energy in its successful A$2 billion contest for control of Excel Coal by way of scheme. This deal was also nominated as Energy & Resources deal of the year at the 2007 ALB Law Awards
• Flight Centre’s A$1.6 billion public to private proposal and subsequent leveraged joint venture with PEP, acting for the Founders
• Commonwealth Bank on the sale of its interests in the 2100MW Loy Yang A power station and mine
• Deutsche Bank entities on Chapter 6 aspects of the A$3.3 billion stapling of its property trusts
• Investa Property Group in its successful unsolicited A$1.5 billion cash and scrip takeover bid for Principal Office Fund
• Shuffle Master, Inc. on its A$150 million takeover bid for Stargames
• AurionGold Limited’s response to Placer Dome’s unsolicited A$2 billion takeover bid
• Commonwealth Bank entities in their successful A$1.6 billion contest with rival bidder Mirvac for Colonial First State Property
• Billiton on its A$57 billion merger with BHP
• Goldfields Limited in its A$1.2 billion merger with Delta Gold
• Commonwealth Bank of Australia in its A$10.1 billion acquisition of Colonial Limited by way of schemes of arrangement
• Cashcard on its A$259 million acquisition by First Data by way of scheme, following a dual track IPO / trade sale process
• ABN AMRO Bank NV on the restructure of its Australian operations and sale of a 20 per cent interest to management
• Commonwealth Bank in various M&A deals including its acquisition of Avanteos, of Symetry, of its stake in 452 Capital and the divestment of its custody business
• CSR Limited in its US$275 million disposal of certain of its Australian aluminium interests to Alcan
• The Rugby Group Plc in relation to the A$431 million AdBri deal, and
• various companies on the Australian aspects of foreign takeovers, including Barrick Gold’s US$2.3 billion acquisition of Homestake and QBE Insurance’s £375 million bid for Limit Plc.

Private equity

Tony has acted on the following private equity transactions:

• the Flight Centre privatisation proposal
• GS Private Equity on the management buyouts of Amart All Sports, McKechnie and its investment in Dôme Coffees
• Investcorp’s €375 million acquisition of the Stahl Group, and
• GreenGrocer.com.au on the acquisition by Woolworths.

Securities markets

Experience includes acting for Citigroup and Commonwealth Bank on various listed warrant issues and other structured products.

Professional background

Tony holds the degrees of Bachelor of Economics, Bachelor of Laws (with Honours) and Master of Laws, from the University of Sydney. He was formerly a tutor in law at St Andrew’s College, University of Sydney. He joined Freehills in 1996 and became a partner on 1 January 2003.

He is the co-author of Schemes, Takeovers and Himalayan Peaks—the inaugural monograph of the University of Sydney’s Ross Parsons Centre. Tony also lectures in takeovers at the University.

He has co-authored chapters in Securities Regulation in Australia and in the International Survey of Investment Adviser Regulation. Tony has contributed articles to leading law journals, including the International Financial Law Review, the Company & Securities Law Journal, the Journal of Banking and Finance Law & Practice and the World Corporate Finance Review.