The firm advised Altium and Alumina on major transactions amounting to $13bn
King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) has confirmed its role in two billion-dollar, watershed deals for the Australian M&A market.
The firm advised Altium on the company’s $9.1bn sale to its business partner, Japan-based Renesas Electronics. According to KWM, this is the biggest M&A transaction involving an Australian-listed entity this year and reflects “renewed Japanese outbound activity”.
The deal also introduces a novel precedent in recent Australian public M&A deals by including a 4.5% reverse break fee.
“The deal was successfully completed and the break fee was not needed. However, it represents the cutting-edge of target company shareholder protection and we’re really proud to have negotiated those terms for a client in Altium”, KWM partner Dan Natale said.
The firm’s chairman David Friedlander headed up the firm’s team on this deal. The transaction reached financial close on 1 August.
Alumina sale
Another team from KWM assisted in the sale of Alumina to global joint venture partner Alcoa for $4bn.
According to the firm, this is the third-largest Australian public M&A deal this year. M&A partner Will Heath said that this was the third complex cross-border scrip-for-scrip transaction the firm had been involved in.
“This is three in a row for team KWM. Cross-border scrip-for-scrip transactions require careful judgement by foreign bidders and Australian-listed entities”, he explained.
Heath worked alongside resources M&A partner Scott Langford. The deal also achieved financial close on 1 August.
The firm also recently advised New Hope Corporation Limited on the issuance of $300m senior convertible notes due 2029 that were listed on the Singapore Exchange Securities Trading Limited. The team that handled this transaction was led by partners Paul Schroder, Max Allan, and Phillip Harvey, with support from special counsel Karim Issa, senior associate Rahul Mukherjee, and solicitors Sarah Jones, Jazz Osvald and Mark Teh.
“We are delighted to have assisted New Hope return to a very active convertible market – this time with the novel capped call”, Schroder said.
