Russell McVeagh wins New Zealand Deal of Year

Leading law firm, Russell McVeagh, has been recognised at last night's 2018 New Zealand Law Awards, winning both International Deal of the Year and New Zealand Deal of the Year awards for the Lattice Energy acquisition by Beach Energy.

Russell McVeagh acted for Origin Energy in the A$1.585b major trans-Tasman energy transaction which saw its conventional upstream oil and gas production business, Lattice Energy, acquired by Australian oil and gas company Beach Energy. The deal was led by Russell McVeagh partners Mei Fern Johnson and David Raudkivi, with Senior Associate Gareth Worthington. In May this year, this deal also won Energy & Resources Deal of the Year at the Australasian Law Awards held in Sydney.

Russell McVeagh Board Chair Malcolm Crotty said he was delighted with this recognition which acknowledges the firm's talented people and their expertise at the forefront of New Zealand's most significant and complex transactions.

The firm's Corporate Advisory team and number of high-profile transactions had also been recognised as finalists, including Russell McVeagh's role advising Fidelity Life, the largest New Zealand owned life insurer, on the NZ Superannuation Fund's $100 million cornerstone investment. Involving complex arrangements for issue and subscription of new shares and the sale and purchase of existing shares, the transaction was led by partners Pip Greenwood, Ian Beaumont, Tom Hunt and Fred Ward.

Russell McVeagh had also advised on Oceania Healthcare's $200m IPO which was the only IPO on the NZX and dual listing (NZX and ASX) in the New Zealand market last year. Led by partners Pip Greenwood and Ben Paterson, this deal won INFINZ's NZ Equity Market Transaction of the Year 2018.

The firm would like to extend congratulations to all of last night's winners and finalists, including the winners of the Russell McVeagh sponsored In-house Team of the Year, Wellington City Council, Fonterra's Andrew Cordner who won In-House Lawyer of the Year, and ANZ who won Financial Services In-House Team of the Year.

The annual awards took place at a ceremony held at the Cordis in Auckland and brought together industry leaders to celebrate excellence in the legal profession and recognise the outstanding achievements of firms and in-house teams across New Zealand.

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