Follow us

Herbert Smith Freehills has advised Brookfield Business Partners (Brookfield) on its proposed acquisition of La Trobe Financial, in a deal worth approximately A$1.5 billion, including a contingent payment tied to the business achieving certain performance milestones.

La Trobe Financial is a prominent Australian diversified credit asset manager with more than A$13 billion in assets under management. La Trobe manages fixed income credit funds on behalf of more than 50,000 qualified retail investors, primarily in residential property-backed loans. It also plays a critical role in the Australian real estate credit market by financing loans to high-quality borrowers.

The Herbert Smith Freehills team was led by partners Nicole Pedler and Philippa Stone, and was comprised of lawyers across the firm's M&A, financial services and other practice groups based in the Sydney office. This included corporate senior associate David Kim and solicitors Hudson Archer and Raul Vellani, regulatory partners Charlotte Henry and Fiona Smedley and senior associates Yorick Ng and David Curley, finance partner Nikki Smythe and senior associate Lauren Jeffries, employment partner Michael Gonski and senior associate Rommo Pandit, IT partner Peter Jones and solicitor Raymond Sun, and IP special counsel Amalia Stone.

Herbert Smith Freehills partner Nicole Pedler said, “We’re proud to have been able to deploy the breadth of HSF’s financial services sector expertise in advising Brookfield on this important acquisition.”

Herbert Smith Freehills partner Philippa Stone said, “We are delighted to have supported the Brookfield team in this transaction which will expand Brookfield’s Australian presence”.

This deal is another example of Herbert Smith Freehills’ market-leading work in Australian M&A. Other recent examples include:

  • Sydney Aviation Alliance on its A$32 billion acquisition of Sydney Airport
  • Santos in its A$22 billion merger with Oil Search
  • Brookfield on its A$17 billion acquisition of AusNet Services
  • Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) on its sale of a 55% stake in Colonial First State to KKR
  • TAL Dai-ichi Life Australia on its proposed acquisition of Westpac’s life insurance business for A$900 million

Key contacts

Nicole Pedler photo

Nicole Pedler

Partner, Sydney

Nicole Pedler
Philippa Stone photo

Philippa Stone

Partner, Sydney

Philippa Stone

Media contact

For further information on this article please contact

Emily Coultas

External Communications Manager

Melbourne