Welcome to our bumper edition of The Dispatch showcasing a range of our team’s deals from August through to October. We celebrated Australia’s biggest M&A deal for 2024 so far – Blackstone’s $24b acquisition of AirTrunk, as well as significant transactions in the energy, resources and infrastructure, and technology sectors. We also re-cap some of our thought leadership and events and share exciting results from the Q3 2024 M&A League Tables.
Our headline deal for this edition is Australia’s biggest M&A deal for 2024 so far- Blackstone’s $24b acquisition of AirTrunk. Alex Elser and Yuen-Yee Cho headlined an extensive team advising Blackstone on its $24bn acquisition of data centre provider, AirTrunk - the second largest private capital M&A deal in Australian History. Special shoutout to the wider team: David Eliakim , Dan Flanagan, Tim Sherman, Mandy Tsang, Francesca Giorlando, Felicity Savage, Vishal Ahuja, Angela Weber, Malcolm Brennan and their respective teams.
Continuing in the Private Capital theme, Mark Vanderneut oversaw a team to advise Apollo Global Management on the successful block trade of 70.6 million ordinary shares in Challenger Limited valued at $460 million. The shares were sold to institutional investors via an underwritten book build. Apollo Global Management reduced its shareholding in Challenger from 20.1 per cent to 9.9 per cent. Congratulations to the wider team: Katherine Chork, Gillian Xu, Dylan Gardiner and Amanda Kazacos.
Nigel Hunt led a team to act for Sierra Rutile Holdings Limited (Sierra Rutile), which was recently the target of three competing takeover proposals . On 21 July 2024, almost 4 months after PRM Services LLC (PRM) launched a hostile on-market takeover bid for SRX, SRX announced it had entered into a bid implementation agreement with Leonoil Company Limited (Leonoil). The Leonoil Offer closed on 2 October 2024 and Sierra Rutile has now been delisted from the ASX. Kudos to the wider team: Angela Zhao, Brenda Valdez, Allison Warrier, James Simpson, Rupert Williamson and Matthew Swain.
Over to capital raisings, Paul Schroder, Max Allan and Philip Harvey fronted a team advising New Hope Corporation Limited (NHC) on its recent issuance of A$300 million senior convertible notes due 2029 (Notes), which are listed on the SGX-ST. Proceeds raised will allow NHC to access flexible, low coupon term debt, increasing balance sheet flexibility and supporting NHC’s strategy to maximise shareholder returns through operational discipline management, cost control, production growth and capital management. A big congratulations to the wider team: Karim Issa, Rahul Mukherjee, Sarah Jones, Jazz Osvald and Mark Teh.
Anthony Boogert led a team supporting debt collection specialist InDebted on its Series C Capital Raising. The transaction has a total value of $60 million, of which $10 million is comprised of secondary sales. The funding will assist the tech company with further expansion in the United States, Europe and South America. Shout out to the wider team: Richard Karaba, Iris Lo and Ella Seaton.
Energy continues to be a deal-making hot spot for our clients, a trend with strong prospects to continue into 2025! Here’s a snapshot of our teams’ recent transactions:
Claire Rogers and team advised Jet Zero Australia (Jet Zero), an Australian Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) developer, on its $14m investment funding for Project Ulysses, the company’s flagship project in Townsville. Jet Zero is developing Australia’s first Alcohol-to-Jet SAF facility, taking agricultural by-products and converting them into 102 million litres of SAF and 11 million litres of renewable diesel per annum. The $14 million in Commonwealth and Queensland funding is the largest government funding commitment to a SAF project in Australia, alongside $30 million in private investment made into Jet Zero, including from project partners Qantas, Airbus and Idemitsu Kosan. Well done to the wider team: Yasmin Frost.
Jo Crew and Chris Dynon teamed up to advise ENGIE in successfully reaching financial close on the Goorambat East Solar Farm, a development located 12km north of Benalla, Victoria. The development will involve the construction, commissioning and operation of over 500,000 Solar Photovoltaic (PV) panels and is planned to have a generating capacity of up to 250MW. Well done to the wider team: Nicola Pearl, Tom Crompton, Alexa Kostenko, Shubho Mukherjee, Alice Nelson, Edward Kus, Jonathan Le and Alisha Tan.
Shirley Cheng led a team to advise Telstra in a purchase power agreement (PPA) to buy 50 per cent of the electricity generated by the Glenellen solar farm in the New South Wales Riverina Region. The project is expected to generate 200 jobs during construction and once operational, Telstra’s share of the electricity generated at Glenellen is projected to be 210 GWh each year - enough to power over 37,000 homes and cut around 130,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually. Kudos to the wider team: Tiffany Yang.
Shirley Cheng also supported Aula Energy in successfully reaching financial close on the Boulder Creek Wind Farm project in QLD and subsequent sale of a 50% interest in the project to CS Energy. In addition to CS Energy becoming a long-term co-investor in the project, it has agreed to purchase Aula Energy’s share of the wind farm’s output for 20 years. Well done to the wider team: Chris Dynon, Jeff Clark, Chris Pitson, Henrik Moritz, Malcolm Brennan, Morgan Clune, Aaron Brooks, Thanaya Naidu, Shubho Mukherjee, Edward Kus, Joanna Taylor, David Kennelly, Katie Nikolaou, Tanya Bromilow, Nicola Wang, Jessica Thiyavutikan, Laura Bernhardt, Eveline Kuang and Grace Kelly.
Josh Thorneycroft and team advised independent renewable energy company SmartestEnergy Australia (as offtaker) in relation to its power purchase agreement (PPA) with Neoen to purchase 50 per cent of the Culcairn Solar farm’s output for four years. The agreement marks another step forward in Australia’s transition to clean energy, reinforcing both companies’ commitment to a sustainable future. A special call out to the wider team: Thanaya Naidu and Ruby Day.
Vishal Ahuja advised BHP on a 7-year renewable electricity power purchase agreement (PPA) with CleanCo to supply renewable electricity to BHP Mitsubishi Alliance’s (BMA) steelmaking coal operations in Queensland. Combined with a previous renewable electricity supply agreement entered into with CleanCo in 2023, this agreement is expected to allow the BMA assets to become the first Australian operations at BHP to run on renewable power for 100 per cent of their forecast operational electricity demand from 2027. Great work to the wider team: Lucius Moser.
Rod Smythe led a team supporting Lightsource bp on securing NZ$267 million in financing to develop the 168MW Kōwhai Park solar project in Christchurch, New Zealand. Lightsource bp and Contact Energy will jointly develop the renewable energy project, with construction to commence in late 2024 and completion expected in 2026. A special mention to Aaron Brooks, Morgan Clune, Annelise Nguyen, Miranda Hutchesson and Hue Pham.
In the infrastructure space, Mark Upfold and Claire Rogers teamed up to advise global infrastructure investor John Laing on its acquisition of an additional 62.5% stake in the Sydney Light Rail PPP, taking its total equity commitment in the Sydney Light Rail PPP to 95%. The transaction shows the confidence which John Laing has in this transformational infrastructure project for Sydney. A special mention to the wider team: Gareth Howe and Matt Hundt.
Also in infrastructure, Chris Mitchell and Larissa Buriak led a team to advise Transport for NSW in relation to the Early Works for Parramatta Light Rail 2. This agreement marks a number of firsts – the first bridge over the Parramatta River in over 40 years and the first component of the Parramatta Light Rail Stage 2 Project. Well done to the wider team: Tristan Howes, Travis Irons and Dan Canta.
Over in the Financial Services sector, Claire Rogers led a team acting for Housing Australia, Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility and ANZ on the financing of Queensland’s biggest social and affordable housing project, developed by a consortium led by Tetris Capital and Community Housing Limited. The transaction will provide funds to support the development of a master-planned community with 490 new social, affordable and specialist disability homes in Woree, in Cairns’ southern corridor. A big congratulations to the wider team: Amy Maguire, Steve Swan, Matthew Hundt, Lauri Reid, Nicole Morris, Eugenia Muñoz, Dan Canta.
In case you missed some of our recent signature events and thought leadership, below is a re-cap of the significant work our teams have been up to:
- KWM collaborated with Allens and Herbert Smith Freehills to host the 7th annual M&A conference in partnership with the Australian Financial Review. Interested in watching each session on demand? Click here.
- The major themes shaping our digital economy - trust, safety, security and the regulators’ rise were centre stage at our KWM Digital Future Summit. To learn more, we share 5 takeaways from each session here. You can also watch the sessions on-demand here.
- We launched flagship reports Directions and The Review: Class Actions in Australia. Find out what was top of mind for Australian directors and senior business leaders in our Directions report here. To learn what’s new, what’s remained the same and what’s on the horizon for Class Actions in Australia, you can listen to the highlights in our podcast or read the full report here.
- Market leading transactions propelled KWM to sit atop both Mergermarket and Bloomberg’s 2024 M&A League Tables by value at the end of Q3. We also received recognition of our client commitment winning Mergermarket’s “Mid-Market M&A Legal Adviser of the Year” for 2024. You can find out more here .
