Working with us means working with lawyers who have real insight into private equity – something that comes from continually executing, and successfully completing, complex private equity transactions for some of the highest profile and most active private capital investors in the world.
Working with private equity firms of all sizes – from the largest global buyout funds, to smaller first-time funds, we combine market-leading private equity market experience with in-depth tax and regulatory knowledge to give you practical, cost-effective legal advice that you can implement quickly.
Private equity lawyers for a fast-changing global market
We understand the dynamics of the industry, its central players, their organisational structures, needs and unique challenges. Our lawyers have strong relationships with private equity sponsors across the market, as well as banks and other institutional debt providers, SWFs, LPs, special opportunities investors, hedge funds and family offices, which we leverage for the benefit of our clients.
King & Wood Mallesons' experience covers the full spectrum of the private equity landscape, including:
- Leveraged buyouts (LBOs) and management buyouts (MBOs)
- Growth capital
- Buy and build strategies
- Venture capital
- Special opportunities
- Core+ and alternative assets
- Co-investing
- Management equity
- Portfolio company advisory
- Acquisition finance
- De-SPAC transactions
- Exits.
A unique combination of expertise for a unique sector
Private equity sponsors and other alternative asset managers continue to look for unique and innovative investment structures across wide-ranging sectors, from traditional buy-out investments through to regional consolidation, platform investments, bolt-on acquisitions to strategic collaborations with strategic investors. Our private equity transactions team brings together market-leading experts in mergers and acquisitions, banking, tax, competition, employment, intellectual property, funds and equity capital markets - to create and implement these market leading structures across asset classes, sectors and geographies.
Our experience of providing commercially focussed advice to the private equity sector includes advising:
- Large scale
- Brookfield on the $4.5 billion take-private of Healthscope
- EQT Partners on the $1.2 billion take-private of Metlifecare
- Blackstone Tactical Opportunities on the sale of DCI data warehouses
- KKR on the acquisitions of Australian Venue Co, GenesisCare and Pepper Group
- EMR Capital on the $1 billion IPO of 29Metals
- Affinity Equity Partners on the acquisitions and divestments TEG/Ticketek and Velocity Frequent Flyer and the take-private of Scottish Pacific
- OPTrust on the acquisition of Transit Australia Group and sell-down to Infrastructure Capital Group
- Mid-market
- Quadrant Private Equity on various acquisitions and disposals including Fullerton Health, FTZ, Qscan, Icon, Junior Adventure Group and Virtus
- CPE Capital on the sale of Gourmet Food to Mondelez and acquisition of Pushys
- BGH Capital on the acquisition of Abano Healthcare
- Growth and venture
- Navis Capital on the acquisition of Device Technologies
- The Growth Fund on the acquisition of Best Health
- Pemba Capital on its acquisitions of Bepoz and Revolution IT
- CSIRO on its spin-out of FutureFeed
At the frontier of private equity investing
As private equity investors look to new asset classes, regions and deal techniques, our lawyers are at the cutting edge of the changing face of private equity investing. This includes:
- South and South East Asia market: leading execution expertise in all key jurisdictions the region working in conjunction with our Singapore office.
- ESG and sustainability: deep knowledge of impact investing and sustainable and green finance.
- Data economy asset classes: strong experience in M&A transaction in the data economy asset classes, including tech, data centres and FinTech investments.
- De-SPAC transactions: with our lawyers working on some of the largest De-SPAC transactions targeting South East Asia late stage venture capital and private equity backed companies, targeting listings on NASDAQ and NYSE.
Utilising technology to get deals done
Tech plays a central role at KWM and is has quickly become an integral part of how we work. We have created a culture where our private equity team is always seeking to leverage tech to identify and create efficiencies, lower costs and reduce time spent on particular tasks. We see this as our new way of working and an essential part of how we craft solutions for our clients.
Awards and recognition
- Best Lawyers, Australia "Law Firm of the Year": Private Equity 2021
- Tier 1 Chambers and Partners: Private Equity, 2013 – 2021
- Asia Legal Awards: Private Equity Deal of the Year (2019) - Ant Financial series C financing
- Asia Mena Counsel: Deals of the Year (2018) – KKR acquisition of Pepper Group
