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Bakers, Blakes, work on $115m IOOF acquisition
Baker & McKenzie and Blake Dawson's advice on IOOF Holdings Limited's A$115 million acquisition of DKN Financial Group Limited became official today.
The New Lawyer
The results of
The deal, which was approved by the Supreme Court of Victoria today according to the ASX, was effected by way of scheme of arrangement.
There merger was initially proposed in June and at a vote last week it received overwhelming shareholder support.
Blake Dawson advised IOOF on the deal.
The Baker & McKenzie team, which advices DKN Financial, was led by corporate partner Richard Lustig and general associate Simon Schenkel, along with partner Alex Wolff and senior associate Helen Joyce. The team worked closely with financial adviser Macquarie Capital (Australia) Limited on the transaction, the firm said.
Lustig said the transaction was particularly interesting due to the way it was structured.
"The deal structure provided flexibility by enabling certain DKN option holders to choose between exercising their DKN options and receiving the consideration under the scheme or alternatively receiving IOOF options. This occurred without there being an options scheme, but still in a way which preserved capital gains tax rollover relief."
Lustig added that we should start to see more transactions involving financial services companies as the market continues to consolidate.
"Baker & McKenzie has been involved in a number of transactions in the financial services industry recently. With increasing market consolidation in this area and in light of industry regulatory changes, we can expect to see more transactions in the financial services industry, particularly in the small to mid-cap end of the market," he said.
DKN is a leading financial services solutions provider to financial wealth management practices.
