Herbert Smith Freehills’ market-leading mergers and acquisitions (M&A) team received top honours in Australasian Lawyer’s 2020 Australasian Law Awards announced last week.

The team was named Australian Deal Team of the Year, and a number of transactions that the team advised on were also recognised. These included Brookfield’s acquisition of Healthscope, which was named Australian Deal of the Year and Amcor’s US listing and acquisition of Bemis, which won International Deal of the Year.

In addition, experienced M&A partner Tony Damian was named Australian Dealmaker of the Year, and partners Rebecca Maslen-Stannage and Philippa Stone received Excellence Awards in this Dealmaker category.

Carolyn Pugsley, Managing Partner for Corporate, said, “I’d like to congratulate every member of our pre-eminent M&A team on their success. These marquee M&A deals require a broad range of experience and capabilities to execute, and require team members from right across our business to come together and play their part in delivering the outcomes our clients are seeking.

“I’d like to express my gratitude to our clients for allowing us to work alongside them on their significant transactions and support them as they adapt and create value through strategic M&A activity. We don’t take for granted the trust that our clients place in us to support them on deals that can be critical to their future success.”

Earlier this year, Herbert Smith Freehills secured its position as the leader in Australian mergers and acquisitions by topping legal advisor M&A league tables by both deal volume and total deal value for the first six months of 2020. The firm ranked:

• 1st by value and deal count in announced AU/NZ deals (Bloomberg)
• 1st by value and  deal count in Australasia announced deals  (Mergermarket)
• 1st by deal count in announced AU/NZ deals (Refinitiv)

The Australasian Law Awards – run by Australasian Lawyer – celebrate the outstanding achievements of Australia and New Zealand's leading legal professionals, firms and in-house teams over the past year.

A full list of Herbert Smith Freehills’ achievements at the 2020 Australasian Law Awards is below:

Individual Awards Winners and Excellence Awards

Australian Dealmaker of the Year

WINNER: Tony Damian

Excellence Award: Rebecca Maslen-Stannage

Excellence Award: Philippa Stone


Australian Arbitrator of the Year

Excellence Award: Brenda Horrigan


Young Private Practice Lawyer of the Year

WINNER: Myra Beal


Managing Partner of the Year

Excellence Award: Andrew Pike


Australian Deal Team of the Year

WINNER: Herbert Smith Freehills’ M&A Team

Excellence Award: Herbert Smith Freehills’ Equity Capital Markets Team


Firm Awards

Excellence Award: Corporate Citizen Firm of the Year

Excellence Award: Excellence in Technology and Innovation

Excellence Award: Law Firm of the Year

DEAL CATEGORIES

Debt Market Deal of the Year

WINNER: Debt acquisition facility to fund Saracen Mineral Holdings's 'Super Pit' acquisition
 

Equity Capital Market Deal of the Year

WINNER: Westpac capital raising

Excellence Award: Tyro Payments IPO


M&A Deal of the Year

WINNER: Brookfield acquisition of Healthscope

Excellence Award: Commonwealth Bank sale of Colonial First State Global Asset Management to Mitsubishi

Excellence Award: Tilt Renewables sale of Snowtown 2 windfarm


Insolvency & Restructuring Deal of the Year

Excellence Award: Retail Food Group restructuring


International Deal of the Year

WINNER: Amcor US listing and acquisition of Bemis


Australian Deal of the Year

WINNER: Brookfield acquisition of Healthscope