Freehills tops Bloomberg M&A League Tables
02 October 2006Freehills continues to dominate its competitors in the legal market for mergers and acquisitions (M&A), as evidenced by Thomson Financial’s and Bloomberg's Australian and New Zealand M&A League Tables.
Having led the Bloomberg M&A League Tables in 2005 and first-half calendar year 2006, Freehills again tops the tables with the release of the latest results for quarter three (July–September) 2006.
Released on 3 July 2006, the Thomson results show that for the fifth half-year in a row, Freehills has acted on a greater number of Australian and New Zealand announced and completed M&A transactions for a higher aggregate deal value than any other law firm.
Speaking about these strong results, Rebecca Maslen-Stannage, partner in Freehills’ Corporate group said, 'Our performance is a tribute to our clients, who continue to choose us to execute their complex, strategic transactions and also to our talented M&A team.'
Speaking of the trends in the M&A market during 2006, Rebecca commented on the large amount of work resulting from private equity transactions.
We’ve seen private equity participants become more aggressive when competing for target assets. With the amount of money currently sitting in funds, there is increasing pressure to snap up attractive businesses.
We have also seen consolidation in infrastructure, gaming and travel, which brings into focus whether other industries present similar opportunities, and whether the recent market correction will be a catalyst for that consolidation.
Landmark deals on which Freehills has acted this year include Orica’s acquisition of Dyno Nobel assets, Nestle’s purchase of Uncle Toby’s, Babcock and Brown Infrastructure’s purchase of Australian Railroad Group and Newbridge Capital’s acquisition of 60 Myer stores.
A copy of the Thomson M&A League Tables (half year: January–June 2006) is available by clicking here.
A copy of the Bloomberg M&A League Tables (quarter three: July–September 2006) is available by clicking here.
For more information please contact
Public Affairs Manager
arriarne.kemp-bishop@freehills.com 
+61 3 9288 1119+61 414 311 331
