Gadens acts as private-equity firm makes rare investment

Gadens has lent its legal expertise as a private-equity firm has made a rare investment into the defence industry.

The national firm supported the vendors of Marand Precision Engineering, a majority stake of which was bought by CHAMP Private Equity. CHAMP is understood to have invested in the Victoria-based company alongside Marand’s founding family.

From the firm’s corporate advisory team, partner Jeremy Smith and senior associate Winnie Sinn led the team. The team also included IP partner Kerry Awerbuch, environment partner Meg Lee, tax partner Peter Poulos, employment advisory partner Siobhan Mulcahy, property senior associate Sean Huggins, tax associate Biya Sun, and corporate advisory lawyers Lauren Guercio and Brittany Kluske.

Marand was founded in 1969 by Andy Ellul and has grown into Australia’s leading precision-engineering company. It is the largest supplier to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter Program. It is also a supplier to blue-chip organisations, including Lockheed Martin, Boeing, BAE Systems, BHP, and Rio Tinto.

Financial details of the transaction were not revealed, but Marand is estimated by reports to have an annual turnover of more than $100m.