As 2017 comes to an end, we wanted to take this opportunity to update you on our growing team, the transactions we have been involved in and highlight the key themes we see for 2018.

Partnership announcement – congratulations Hugh Monaghan

We are pleased to announce the admission of Hugh Monaghan to the partnership effective from 1 January 2018. Hugh has specialised in transactions for more than ten years and has been involved in winning and leading many of the firms most significant transaction engagements. Hugh advises a range of clients on corporate finance matters across various industries.

Transactions highlights in 2017

The team have had a busy year working on a broad range of deals across a variety of industries including food and beverage, financial services, education, transport, technology, telecommunications, retail and aged care. We have assisted our clients with buy and sell side due diligence, valuations and advisory services. A selection of completed transactions are shown below:

Due diligence on behalf of the Hunter Hall board for the merger with Pengana Capital.

Financial due diligence for the Aura Funds Management led consortium’s acquisition of Telstra’s Phonewords.

Financial due diligence in relation to the merger of three leading urban planning firms.

Financial due diligence for Caltex on the acquisition of Nashi, a Melbourne based food retailer.

Acquisition advisory assistance for various transactions including acquisition of Yellow Cabs.

Financial due diligence for EBI on the acquisition of Novo Shoes Group.

Five themes we see for 2018

• Increased use of creative deal structures to deal with uncertainty and misaligned value expectations
• The emergence of cyber and data protection diligence in the mid-market
• Increased participation from non-traditional players providing transaction leverage
• Sectoral consolidation in disability and aged care, retail and IT services
• Increased board involvement in M&A assessment

Our team has more than doubled in size in the last year and we look forward to welcoming a new senior hire with a focus on valuations to further strengthen our capabilities. We welcome you to contact our team to discuss how we can help you.