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Sydney Airport sold for $32bn
Sydney Airport has been acquired by an aviation alliance company for $32 billion, in what is the largest cash takeover in Australian history, as well as the largest ever infrastructure takeover.
Lauren Croft
Firm: Herbert Smith Freehills (Sydney Aviation Alliance), Allens (Sydney Airport)
Value: $32 billion
Area: M&A
Key players: The Herbert Smith Freehills team was led by M&A partners Tony Damian and Andrew Rich and included partners Robert Bileckij, Stephen Dobbs, Erin Wakelin, Jon Evans, Patrick Gay, Matthew FitzGerald, Adam Charles and Luke Hastings, senior adviser Robert Nicholson, consultant James Graham, executive counsel Adam Parkin, senior associates Joshua Santilli, Caitlin Walker, Lucinda Grant, Rebecca Cook and James Emmerig, and lawyers Raul Vellani, Benedict Cheung and Luxmy Chandran.
The Allens team was led by corporate partners Guy Alexander, Julian Donnan and Chris Blane and supported by senior associates Bree Rowswell and Tom Hall, associates Ellen Trevanion and Will Brown and lawyer Ben Fong.
Deal significance: Sydney Aviation Alliance (SAA) is an Australian-led consortium comprising IFM Australian Infrastructure Fund, AustralianSuper, Australian Retirement Trust, IFM Global Infrastructure Fund and Global Infrastructure Partners.
Commenting on the deal, Mr Damian said: “We are incredibly proud of this milestone and the work of the Sydney Aviation Alliance and Herbert Smith Freehills teams in completing one of the most significant and complex Australian M&A deals. Sydney Airport is a world-class infrastructure asset that plays an integral role in connecting Sydney, and Australia, with the world.”
Mr Rich added: “The M&A boom in Australia continues. This deal showcases the increasing importance of superannuation funds in public company M&A as well as the increasing prevalence of consortium bids.”
Allens said they “are very pleased to have advised Sydney Airport on the successful implementation of this landmark transaction.
“This deal demonstrates the continued demand for listed and unlisted Australian infrastructure assets and follows a strong year for our public M&A practice having also advised on transactions such as Spark Infrastructure, Oil Search, Vocus, Ausnet, ALE and Boral.”
Lauren Croft
Lauren is a journalist at Lawyers Weekly and graduated with a Bachelor of Journalism from Macleay College. Prior to joining Lawyers Weekly, she worked as a trade journalist for media and travel industry publications and Travel Weekly. Originally born in England, Lauren enjoys trying new bars and restaurants, attending music festivals and travelling. She is also a keen snowboarder and pre-pandemic, spent a season living in a French ski resort.
