Gilbert + Tobin is advising a Consortium, comprising Wilmar International Limited (Wilmar) and First Pacific Company Limited (First Pacific), on the Consortium’s proposed acquisition of Goodman Fielder Limited. The transaction is to be implemented by way of a scheme of arrangement and values Goodman Fielder on an enterprise value basis at A$1.9 billion.
Mergers & Acquisitions partner, Peter Cook, is leading the Gilbert + Tobin team together with partner Rachael Bassil (M&A/corporate) and senior lawyer Adam D’Andreti, with support from partners Andrew Crook (M&A/corporate) and Elizabeth Avery (competition) and lawyers across the firm including Nirangjan Nagarajah, Peggy Ching, Sean Meehan and Lena Vanmali.
Peter Cook commented, “Reaching agreement on a cross-border acquisition of this scale and complexity is a challenging exercise. The transaction had a long lead time and a number of unique features that required careful management by all parties to the transaction to get to this point. We are delighted to be involved in such an important transaction for Wilmar and First Pacific, and to work closely with advisors Bank of America Merrill Lynch and UBS.”
This transaction continues Gilbert + Tobin’s strong recent M&A record including Woolworths Holding’s proposed acquisition of David Jones for A$2.15 billion, TPG’s A$1.3 billion acquisition of UGL Limited’s property services arm, DTZ, Vitol’s A$2.9 billion acquisition of Shell’s Australian downstream assets, Aurora Oil & Gas’ A$2.6 billion acquisition by Baytex, Westpac’s A$1.45 billion acquisition of Lloyds’ Australian businesses, and GrainCorp’s defence of ADM’s A$3.4 billion takeover. We are currently ranked as the leading adviser in M&A in the industry league tables including 1st for Bloomberg’s Australia & New Zealand Announced Deals (ranked by value) and Mergermarket’s Australia M&A (ranked by value).
