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SERVICES & EXPERTISE
Corporate and Commercial Law
At Sharp Tudhope, our corporate and commercial team is unmatched in the Bay for its depth of experience and dedication to helping businesses thrive. We support a diverse range of clients, from small and medium-sized enterprises, investors, listed companies and international businesses.
We offer practical, commercially focused advice across various industries. With a comprehensive understanding of business, we ensure legal risks are managed within the correct context, enabling efficient and effective solutions. Whether it involves starting new ventures, navigating business risks, raising capital, handling mergers and acquisitions, or anything in between, we can provide the expertise necessary to help you succeed.
Our partner-led service model combines deep local knowledge with international experience, delivering pragmatic and effective advice for our clients. We take pride in offering excellent service at a fair price, and our team’s dedication has earned the confidence of businesses for generations.
Expertise
- Capital raisings
- Commercial contracts and advisory
- Corporate structuring, restructuring and roll ups
- Directors’ duties, governance and compliance
- Finance and banking
- Financial regulation
- General competition and consumer law
- Joint ventures
- Limited partnerships
- Mergers and acquisitions
- Private equity and venture capital
- Restructuring, turnaround and insolvency
- Retirement villages and aged care
- Shareholder agreements and company constitutions
- Start-ups and early stage ventures
- Succession planning
- Syndications
- Takeovers
Experience
Recent experience includes:
- Advising MyFarm Investments on all aspects of the establishment of the MyFarm Kiwfruit Fund. The Fund, established under a limited partnership structure, owns and operates Kiwifruit assets approaching $200m in value with over 500 limited partners. The Fund establishment process involved the sale by 11 Limited Partnerships of 17 Kiwifruit orchards and associated assets to the newly formed Fund, with consideration satisfied by the issue of units in the Fund and cash. Our services included advice on the structure and governance of the Fund, management arrangements, advising on approvals required for each selling Limited Partnership, the establishment of banking facilities for the Fund and transacting all assets.
- Advised the founding investors BayTrust, TECT, Trust Horizon, and Rotorua Trust on the establishment of Bay of Plenty Housing Equity Fund (BOPHEF). With an initial investment of $45 million and an intention to scale to at least $100 million swiftly, the BOPHEF aims to address the regions critical housing shortage, acting as a catalyst for development and accommodating a diverse range of investment.
- Advising Giltrap Group on all aspects of the sale of the business and assets of European Financial Services, Euro Rate Finance, and European Wholesale Finance to UDC Finance. The vendor entities provided branded vehicle finance solutions to Giltrap Group customers, trading under premium European brands such as Audi, Volkswagen, Skoda and Cupra in New Zealand. The transaction involves an asset value in excess of $200m and was subject to Overseas Investment Office approval.
- Advising the shareholders of a national distribution company on the sale of their shares to a UK private equity firm with £2.2billion in capital under management. We advised on all aspects of the transaction which valued the target company at just under NZ$30m, from offer letter through due diligence, negotiation of the deal documentation, and completion.
- Advising a private investor on its acquisition of shares in a company that owns and operates a unique business park that leverages collaboration around the agribusiness industry. The shares were acquired from a local authority for a purchase price of approximately $10m.
- Advising a private equity firm with funds over $50m, on its $4.7m investment in a superannuation annuity and funds management business licensed by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand.
- Advising the company on mergers and acquisitions to grow a health services provider from an enterprise value of $10M to $80M in 4 years.
- Advising the shareholders of a family-owned engineering attachments business on the sale of their shares to a Swedish-listed investment company, with a deal value of $12m.
