Press Release: Mergermarket Australia M&A Awards 2019 Recognises Top Financial and Legal Advisers
27 September 2019
Sydney, 27 September 2019 – Mergermarket, the world’s leading news and intelligence service for mergers & acquisitions, announced the winners of its Australia M&A awards 2019 at a black-tie gala dinner on the evening of the 26 September at The Westin Hotel, Sydney.
The Australia M&A Awards recognise the Financial and Legal Advisers’ excellence in M&A Advisery of Australia-related deals and are based on the Mergermarket league tables with input from an independent judging panel of seven industry experts and two professionals from Acuris.
Of the M&A Financial Adviser nominations, Mergermarket named Goldman Sachs as the M&A Financial Adviser of the Year. It also won the M&A Financial Adviser of the Year title in Business Services, Consumer and Energy Mining & Utilities sectors. KPMG was named the Mid-Market M&A Financial Adviser of the Year while Luminis Partners is the Boutique M&A Financial Adviser of the Year. UBS Investment Bank won the Cross Border M&A Financial Adviser of the Year and M&A Collaboration of the Year.
Of the legal Adviser nominations, Herbert Smith Freehills was awarded the M&A Legal Adviser of the Year, as well as the Cross Border M&A Legal Adviser of the Year. King & Wood Mallesons won the Mid-Market M&A Legal Adviser of the Year while Hamilton Locke was named the Boutique Legal Adviser of the Year. In terms of sectors, Gilbert + Tobin won the M&A Legal Adviser of the Year in Business Services and Consumer, and Allens won in Energy Mining & Utilities.
For private equity sector, the Private Equity Deal of the Year went to Scottish Pacific Group (Affinity Equity Partners), while Gilbert + Tobin won the Private Equity Legal Adviser of the Year. Brookfield Asset Management was named the M&A Deal of the Year.
Merrill Corporation and Willis Towers Watson were the co-sponsors, and Clarendon Lawyers was the cocktail sponsor of the event.
Donovan Parto, Regional Director of Australia for Merrill Corporation said, “Merrill is delighted to be the key sponsor of Mergermarket’s M&A awards ceremony in Australia once again. This year, as more complex cross-border deals have gained momentum in the country, it’s ever more important to ensure a streamlined M&A process. We’re glad to help our customers gain efficiencies and maximise opportunities across the complete M&A lifecycle, all while recognising M&A excellence in the industry.”
Steven Torresan, Director, FINEX, Australasia of Willis Towers Watson (previously Risk Capital Advisors) said, “We are proud to once again be co-lead sponsor of Mergermarket’s M&A Awards in Australia. At a time when there is ongoing turbulence in global markets, fuelling board room uncertainty around the world, it feels more important than ever to celebrate the excellence in Financial and Legal M&A advisory that helps to drive ongoing success for our industry locally. My colleagues and I offer our congratulations both to the esteemed winners and also those shortlisted for each award category.”
The complete list of the Australia M&A Awards are as follows:
Mid-Market M&A Financial Adviser of the Year – KPMG
Mid-Market M&A Legal Adviser of the Year – King & Wood Mallesons
Business Services M&A Financial Adviser of the Year – Goldman Sachs
Business Services M&A Legal Adviser of the Year – Gilbert + Tobin
Business Services M&A Deal of the Year – BGH Capital & Australian Super
Consumer M&A Financial Adviser of the Year – Goldman Sachs
Consumer M&A Legal Adviser of the Year – Gilbert + Tobin
Consumer M&A Deal of the Year – ROC Partners & Wattle Hill Capital
Energy Mining & Utilities M&A Financial Adviser of the Year – Goldman Sachs
Energy Mining & Utilities M&A Legal Adviser of the Year – Allens
Energy Mining & Utilities M&A Deal of the Year – Wesfarmers
Cross Border M&A Financial Adviser of the Year – UBS Investment Bank
Cross Border M&A Legal Adviser of the Year – Herbert Smith Freehills
M&A Collaboration of the Year – UBS Investment Bank
Private Equity Legal Adviser of the Year – Gilbert + Tobin
Private Equity Deal of the Year – Scottish Pacific Group (Affinity Equity Partners)
Boutique M&A Financial Adviser of the Year – Luminis Partners
Boutique Legal Adviser of the Year – Hamilton Locke
M&A Financial Adviser of the Year – Goldman Sachs
M&A Legal Adviser of the Year – Herbert Smith Freehills
M&A Deal of the Year – Brookfield Asset Management
The panel of judges included:
Professor Allan Fels, Former Chairman, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission
Steven Torresan, Director, FINEX, Australasia, Willis Towers Watson
Jake Haines, Managing Director, Pacific Equity Partners
Joseph Skrzynski, Founding Partner, CHAMP Private Equity
Gary Brookes, Head of Sales – Asia Pacific, Merrill Corporation
Peter Scott, Deputy Chairman, Gresham Advisory Partners Limited
Mike Roche, Managing Director, M R Advisory Pty Ltd
Simon Segal, Editorial Consultant, Dealreporter (an Acuris company)
Maggie Lu, Australia Bureau Chief, Mergermarket (an Acuris company)
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About Mergermarket:
Mergermarket is an independent Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) intelligence service with an unrivalled network of dedicated M&A journalists based in 67 locations across the Americas, Europe, Asia- Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa. Unlike any other service of its kind, Mergermarket specialises in providing forward-looking origination and deal flow opportunities integrated with a comprehensive deals database – resulting in real revenues for clients.
About Acuris:
Acuris powers business growth for financial and professional services firms worldwide. Through events and subscription-based digital services, we provide unique, high-value content that helps our customers to make the best decisions based on the strongest evidence.
Our sector specialists and expert analysts interpret data and intelligence to extract new insights that create business opportunities for our customers. We’re trusted by many of the world’s principal Advisery firms, investment banks, law firms, hedge funds, private equity firms and corporates, who rely our brands to help them understand specialist markets and find ideas for business development.
Founded in 2000, we’re a growing family of information brands united by common characteristics: sector expertise, analytical skill, proprietary data and solutions that are packaged for maximum value. You’ll find our 1,300 staff, including 600 specialist journalists and analysts, in 67 locations around the world.
