Slater and Gordon shareholders approve split
The separation of the Australian and UK businesses of Slater and Gordon has been approved and the new ownership should be completed shortly.
The ASX-listed law firm received 70% approval from shareholders to split the two parts of the business with the UK firm essentially being owned by senior lenders.
A court hearing will take place in Australia next week, the Law Society Gazette reports.
UK chief executive Ken Fowlie told the Gazette that the formal completion of the firm’s recapitalization will allow the businesses in Australia and the UK to be more flexible.
In a filing to the ASX, the Australian company reported the election of Hayden Stephens, CEO Australia an Executive Director, effective immediately. He is also appointed as the Legal Practitioner Director under the Legal Profession Act 2017 (Victoria).
Former CEO Andrew Grech has retired from the board; he was a non-executive director following his resignation as chief executive earlier this year.
John Skippen was re-elected as a non-executive director at the AGM this week and will continue to serve as chairman of the board.
Senior hires for Allens’ patents team
Allens has added strength to its growing patents team with two senior hires.
Tracey Webb has 20 years’ experience across physics, medical devices and ICT inventions and joins the firm as Principal Patent Attorney in Melbourne. She is registered in Australia and New Zealand and was with FB Rice & Co for more than 17 years, most recently as senior associate.
Meanwhile, Dr Pasquale Aliberti, an expert in pholtovoltaics, quantum computing and renewable energy, joins as a senior associate from Griffith Hack. He was the recipient of the International Postgraduate Award from the University of New South Wales in 2017.
Ashurst team advises on AU$100m funding of fintech lender
A team from Ashurst has advised Fortress Investment Group on providing a debt capital facility of up to AU$100 million to fund the first MoneyMe warehouse securitisation trust.
Australian start-up MoneyMe is a personal loans fintech and will use the funding for its growing originations.
Ashurst’s team was led by global markets partner Jennifer Schlosser and included fintech securitisation specialists, senior associate Eugene Ng and lawyer Alexandra Rennie.
