Corporate, Commercial and M&A

Expertise

We specialise in corporate and commercial transactions involving tech, media and IP. Our deep understanding of the core assets of these businesses sets us apart, enabling us to provide smart and strategic advice on investments and capital raising, M&A, joint ventures and employee share schemes.

Our expertise ranges from negotiating complex commercial contracts and formulating strategies for mergers and acquisitions to managing corporate restructurings, always combining legal acumen with a pragmatic, business-oriented approach.

We are experts in advising innovative start-up and scale-up businesses on capital raising, including on investment strategy, corporate structuring, disclosure requirements, governance, and investor relations.

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Experience

• Acting for a large public-private partnership owned by the New Zealand government and major agribusiness companies on its investment in several new technologies in New Zealand, Australia and the United States, including advising on the shareholder arrangements, funding structures, IP ownership, exploitation and potential FTO issues, and internal policies.
• Advising a New Zealand IoT company on multiple rounds of capital raising, including investments by government-backed seed and growth funds and an equity crowdfunding round through a digital platform.
• Advising the founders and controlling shareholders of a New Zealand digital health information company on the sale of all shares in the company and its Australian subsidiary to an Australian software group owned by a global technology conglomerate.
• Acting for the shareholders of an award-winning New Zealand software company on the sale of the shares (including all subsidiaries) to a UK-based technology and data solutions provider.
• Advising a large, listed building and infrastructure company on the potential acquisition of intellectual property in a barrier system.
• Advising a large building supplies business on its investment in a joint venture to develop an AI based business that assists with estimating and pricing.
• Advising on and negotiating the purchase by a global technology business of a fast growing successful cloud-based high-performance computing business.
• Providing corporate and commercial (including IP commercialisation) advice to a number of deep tech providers, including companies in genetic diagnostics, industrial control systems, AI-powered gaming collectibles and vacuum pressure measurement technologies.
• Advising a global industrial technology group on the technology, IP, data, and privacy aspects of its acquisition of a New Zealand payment solutions company for US$80m.
• Advising the owners of a process management software company on the sale of the group to an international automation platform provider.
• Assisting a technology hardware company with multiple rounds of capital raising.
• Assisting a leading global trading card game with its various capital raises, including an equity crowdfunding round through a digital platform.
• Assisting a New Zealand-based online tax software provider with various capital raises.
• Assisting with the establishment of an independent digital media platform, including structuring arrangements to facilitate investment by a number of supporters and industry backers.
• Assisting a large agribusiness that served farmers in the establishment of a business that enabled its farmers to gain greater insights about their farms from data captured by the agribusiness.
• Assisting an iconic NZ broadcasting business with its interests in a joint venture for a new content channel.
• Advising an AI-driven retail intelligence software company on a $30 million capital raise led by New Zealand’s largest venture capital fund, as well as on various strategic commercial arrangements.
• Providing strategic advice to multiple NZ-based software and technology businesses on their corporate and IP ownership structure and commercial terms of service in preparation for overseas expansion