Mergermarket M&A Forum - Australia
The premier M&A forum in Australia
Four Seasons Hotel, Sydney and Online
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Bruce Miller AO
Mr Miller was appointed as the Chair of the Foreign Investment Review Board in April 2022. Mr Miller has extensive experience as a senior leader in the public and private sectors.
Mr Miller occupied senior positions in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, and the Office of National Assessments. Mr Miller served as Australian Ambassador to Japan from 2011 to 2017.
Mr Miller holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Law from the University of Sydney.
Peter founded Stanton Road Partners in April 2019 and brings over 25 years experience of leading advisory roles in investment banking and corporate advisory. Previous roles include Managing Director at Morgan Stanley, ABN AMRO and Luminis Partners. Peter also worked at LEK Consulting and PwC.
Peter’s recent advisory roles include: advising Anchorage Capital Partners on the sale of Affinity Education, advising Lynch Group on its IPO, advising Quadrant Private Equity on the sale of Qscan Radiology, advising Pacific Equity Partners on the sale of Manuka Health, The Growth Fund on the sale of Laser Clinics Australia and Archer Capital on the sale of Healthe Care, advising Metcash on its acquisition of HTHG and defence adviser to Affinity Education Group. Other selected transactions include: advising The Coca Cola Company on its acquisition of a shareholding in Coca Cola Indonesia, advising Bain Capital on its acquisition of MYOB, advising San Miguel on the sale of National Foods and defence adviser to Foodland on its agreed Scheme of Arrangement with Metcash and Woolworths.
Equity capital roles include being the Joint Lead Manager on the IPOs of Virtus, Bapcor, Nine, Monash, APNO and Estia.
Peter has a Bachelor of Economics from University of Sydney.
Kushal is a Partner in PwC's Deals Advisory business and the Asia Pacific ESG Lead for Deals and Private Equity.
Kushal works closely with the global and regional private equity houses, infrastructure funds and their investee companies to accelerate the integration of ESG factors across the lifecycle of their investments to help generate sustainable risk-adjusted returns. This involves working closely with investment teams to identify and quantify material ESG risks and value creation levers during the pre-investment stage of a deal, and developing and implementing post deal ESG value delivery and decarbonation plans.
Kushal has over 18 years of experience across the M&A industry and has worked on over 200 deal situations across Asia Pacific, Europe and the US.
Elena Chan is the General Counsel and Chief Risk Officer at a pay-on-demand fintech, Beforepay Group Limited (Beforepay). Beforepay listed on the ASX earlier this year and the company has been on a significant growth trajectory since its inception in 2019.
Elena has over 15 years' experience in the financial services industry. Prior to joining Beforepay, Elena spent nine years at Westpac holding various business, legal, and risk roles. Elena was the Head of Group Transformation Office, the chief of staff to the Chief Strategy Officer and the Head of Business Controls for Group Data. She also headed-up the Financial Markets legal team for Westpac's Institutional Bank for several years. She represented the bank in various industry forums including with the Australian Banking Association, the Australian Financial Markets Association and ISDA. She has been a regular speaker at the Annual Regional ISDA Symposium.
Prior to joining Westpac, Elena worked at a number of law firms and corporations in Australia and the United Kingdom, including Morgan Stanley, Simmons & Simmons, Henry Davis York (now Norton Rose), and PwC. She has extensive experience in advising financial institutions across a full range of legal, risk and compliance matters.
Elena holds a double degree in Commerce (Finance) and Law from University of New South Wales and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors course.
Len Chersky is a Managing Partner in Brookfield’s Private Equity Group, responsible for investment origination, analysis and execution in the Asia Pacific region.
Mr. Chersky has over 20 years of commercial and investment experience. Prior to joining Brookfield in 2013, he was Executive Director in Lend Lease Corporation and previously held a number of senior positions in investment banking and financial services as well as executive roles in major listed organizations in Australia.
Mr. Chersky holds a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and a Bachelor of Law, both from University of New South Wales.
Clara is a Partner in the Deals team at PwC in Australia and a member of PwC’s Global Infrastructure leadership team. She has worked on projects across Australia and globally including the UK, US and Asia.
Clara works on transactions with governments, corporates, private equity and infrastructure funds.
Clara has worked on a broad range of transactions including both buy and sell side and public documents including IPOs and schemes. Clara has participated in transactions across several sectors and specialises infrastructure and services transactions.
Aldi is a remuneration and corporate governance specialist who joins Morrow Sodali from the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) where he was involved in the strategy, design and implementation of incentive schemes and recognition programs for employees across the organisation. Prior to CBA, Aldi held manager roles with PwC Australia advising ASX-listed and unlisted companies on reward and performance matters, and Glass Lewis where he managed a team of research analysts responsible for proxy research covering companies in Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.
Aldi supports clients across a range ESG offerings including remuneration, board governance, stakeholder engagement and M&A governance. Aldi has recently supported a number of clients with proxy advisor insights, engagement and corporate governance disclosure reviews across a number of high-profile M&A deals in 2021 including: Sydney Airport/Sydney Aviation Alliance, AusNet/Brookfield, Aventus/Home Consortium, Afterpay/Square and Spark Infrastructure/Pika Bidco.
Joseph is Australia Country Executive and CEO for Bank of America.
As Australia Country Executive and CEO, Joseph is responsible for the overall management of the franchise, driving the strategic direction of the business and ensuring a coordinated and integrated approach across the platform.
Joseph is a senior investment banker with over 24 years of M&A and financing experience advising a range of large and multi-national corporate, private equity and Government clients across all industries and products. Prior to joining Bank of America in 2017, Joseph spent 12 years at Goldman Sachs Australia, most recently as Co-Head of Investment Banking Services.
Joseph is graduate of Claremont McKenna College (California) and is married with two children. He is a Governor of The Cerebral Palsy Research Foundation, avid snow skier, and a licensed private pilot.
Marissa is head of the Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) business in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ). Previously, she was chief operating officer of M&A in ANZ, a role she assumed in 2016. She joined Goldman Sachs in 2015 as an executive director on the M&A team and was named managing director in 2019.
Prior to joining the firm, Marissa worked at UBS in the M&A and General Industrials teams from 2005 to 2014. Earlier in her career, she was a solicitor at the law firm King & Wood Mallesons. Marissa is a sitting member of the Australian Takeovers Panel. Marissa earned a Bachelor of Commerce (with merit) and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of New South Wales.
Jamie has been advising Australian and multinational companies on their corporate, M&A and capital markets strategies for over 25 years. Previously, Jamie was Co-Head and Managing Director of Greenhill Australia, and served as a member of Greenhill’s global management committee and prior to that, Jamie was a Managing Director of Caliburn.
Jamie’s major advisory roles include advising Bank of Queensland on its $1.3bn acquisition of ME Bank, advising on the Asaleo response to Essity’s $800m control proposal, advising Suncorp on the divestment of its Life Insurance business $700m, advising Westpac Banking Corporation on its $18b merger with St George Bank and advising Oil Search on its response to a $12b unsolicited approach from Woodside.
Jamie is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and a Fellow of the Financial Services Institute of Australasia (FINSIA), where Jamie also serves as a Lecturer for the Mergers & Acquisitions graduate diploma course.
Mark joined WiseTech Global in 2015 as an advisor on the IPO. Following the successful listing, Mark joined the group permanently as Deputy CFO, with a core focus on forecasting, reporting and process improvement. During Mark’s time at WiseTech, he has led the acquisition process and has been implementing and driving the integration process across acquired businesses. Prior to joining the WiseTech team, Mark spent almost 20 years with PwC in M&A focused roles on buy side, sell side due diligence and public market transactions across Europe and Australia. Mark is a Chartered Accountant and holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Leeds.
Belinda is the General Manager of Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) at the Commonwealth Bank (CBA). She joined CBA in 2017 from Goldman Sachs in Australia. Prior to working in Australia, Belinda spent a number of years working in New York at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, predominantly in equity capital markets.
Belinda is currently studying AICD, is a director on the Colonial Mutual Life Assurance Society Pty Limited subsidiary board and she was previously an observer on the Property Exchange Australia (PEXA) Board. Belinda earned a Bachelor of Commerce (with 1st class honours in Finance) from the University of Sydney.
Brendan Lee
Managing Director, Head of TMT Investment Banking
Morgan Stanley
Brendan Lee is head of Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT) Investment Banking for Morgan Stanley in Australia and New Zealand.
He joined Morgan Stanley in 2018, prior to which he spent 12 years at Goldman Sachs and also had experience with Tremblant Capital, Macquarie Group and McKinsey & Company.
Brendan has a career spanning +20 years across investment banking, principal investment, and management consulting and he has worked in both Sydney and New York. He has specialized in TMT for the last 13 years, with a particular focus on the technology and telecommunication sectors, and has served as lead financial advisor on many of the most significant transactions in those sectors in Australia and New Zealand.
Brendan is a University Medallist with a Bachelor of Commerce (1st Class Honours in Finance) and Bachelor of Law from the University of New South Wales.
Tim is the founder and principal of Miles Advisory Partners and has worked in corporate finance since 1997. Tim founded Miles Advisory Partners in 2002 with the specific goal of providing professional corporate advisory services to the mid-market. Since this time, he has led more than 100 successful private and public transactions including divestments, mergers, acquisitions, and debt/equity capital raisings.
Prior to establishing Miles Advisory Partners, Tim held a variety of executive positions specialising in merger and acquisition transactions and capital raisings and has provided advice across a broad range of industries including engineering, resources, manufacturing, distribution, and finance.
David Odgers is responsible for sourcing, structuring and negotiating new private equity investments, managing existing investments, as well as fundraising. David has more than 20 years of experience in private equity, consulting and business leadership roles. He joined IFM Investors from Bain Capital, where he was an Operating Partner with responsibility for investments in MYOB, Retail Zoo and Camp Australia. Prior to joining Bain Capital, David held senior management roles at eBay (Sales and Marketing Director) and The Nuance Group (COO). Earlier in his career, David spent 10 years as a management consultant, chiefly with Bain & Company, working in Europe, the United States and Australia on a range of industries and strategic issues for private equity and corporate clients.
Reeny Paraskeva leads Jarden’s general industrials team, which also covers consumer/retail, healthcare, telecom and media.
Reeny has more than 15 years’ investment banking experience, including ten years in New York where she was a Managing Director at UBS. Throughout her career, she has advised on more than 50 transactions worth more than $60b across public and private market M&A and equity capital markets.
In addition to more than a decade in traditional advisory, Reeny led the consumer products and retail ECM team at UBS in New York and was subsequently responsible for broadening the US financial sponsors coverage effort, before moving back to Australia in 2020.
Reeny holds a Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Information Systems and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Melbourne.
Drew Riethmuller is the Head of Global Corporate & Investment Banking, Oceania for MUFG Bank, Ltd., a member of MUFG, after joining in February 2016.
Drew is responsible for the management and development of the Corporate & Investment Banking business in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific. In this capacity, he provides oversight and strategic leadership for the bank’s corporate client business and core products including Project Finance, Loan and Debt Capital Markets, Securitisation, Acquisition Finance and Corporate Advisory.
Prior to MUFG, Drew spent 7 years at Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) in a range of senior roles managing the bank’s Global Relationship Banking business across Australia, Asia, Americas and EMEA.
Prior to joining ANZ, Drew spent 17 years at Citigroup where he held senior positions in Fixed Income, Structured Capital Markets and Funds Management across markets including Australia, New Zealand, Americas and EMEA.
He holds a Bachelor of Business and Postgraduate in Business (Accounting and Finance) and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia.
Ben is a co-founder and Chair of Ad Astra with over 30 years of corporate advisory experience. Over his career, Ben has acted as a corporate adviser providing independent strategic and financial advice to listed and private companies, governments and individuals in relation to a wide range of corporate matters including public takeovers and schemes, takeover responses, private acquisitions and divestments, Government asset sales and scoping studies, capital management and capital raisings. Ben has experience across a broad range of sectors including consumer, retail, property, leisure, gaming, financial services and technology.
Ben’srecent transaction experience includes advising Investec on the sale of its Australian loan book ($1.2bn) and management internalisation of the Investec Australia Property Fund (now Irongate Group), PEP on its acquisition of Citadel($503m), and Xenith IP on its proposed merger with Qantm IP and subsequent takeover defence from IPH ($207m). Other notable clients include Air New Zealand, Asaleo Care, Dimension Data, GPT, Growthpoint, Impala Platinum, Laundy Hotels, Oroton, South Australian Government, SCA, Spark Infrastructure, Steinhoff AsiaPacific (now Greenlit Brands), Tasmanian Government, Tatts Group, UNiTAB, WestAustralian Government, Woolworths and Wotif.com.
Prior to founding Ad Astra, Ben was the Head of Corporate Advisory for Investec Australia. Previously he worked at Wentworth Associates, Macquarie Bank and Hill Samuel in London and was a director of Wotif.com.
Heis a fellow of FINSIA and has a BSc (Econ) (Honours) majoring in Accounting and Finance from the London School of Economics.
As a Partner in the Corporate Finance team of Pitcher Partners Melbourne, Michael assists many clients, from a range of industries, with their transaction pursuits with specialist services including: lead mergers and acquisitions advice, financial analysis, due diligence investigations and valuations.
Michael leads the Global Corporate Finance group for Baker Tilly International a top 10 accounting network globally.
Clients benefit significantly from Michael’s astute business acumen and persuasive negotiating skills. Clients seeking growth through divestment and acquisition strategies draw on Michael’s networks and knowledge to maximise their business and financial results. He works with many public and private businesses on their buy and sell side mandates.
Ms. Tavill is the global head of responsible investment, leading all ESG and impact initiatives across all businesses and investment strategies at StepStone Group, a global private markets investment firm focused on providing customized investment solutions and advisory and data services to some of the most sophisticated investors in the world. With more than US$548 billion of private markets allocations, including over US$127 billion of assets under management as of December 31, 2021, StepStone covers the spectrum of opportunities in private markets across the globe. Ms. Tavill is also a member of the private equity team.
Prior to StepStone, Ms. Tavill was responsible for AMP Capital’s global alternative investment platform that included private equity, infrastructure and real assets. Before that she spent five years at Van Eyk Research in Sydney, the last four as head of research. Before moving to Australia, she was an executive director at Goldman Sachs Investment Management, responsible for their UK small-and mid-cap portfolios.
Ms. Tavill received a MSc in finance and economics from the London School of Economics, in addition to a BBS with honors in economics and honors in finance from the University of Cape Town, South Africa.
Erin is a Founding Partner at Barrenjoey and is Head of Mergers & Acquisitions and Co-Head of Industrials sector coverage.
She has advised on some of the largest and most complex transactions in Australian corporate history including the largest cash takeover.
Erin has had a career spanning 20 years across investment banking, corporate development, strategy and business leadership. She joined Barrenjoey from Macquarie Bank where she was Head of Growth and co-led Macquarie Bank’s Corporate Development and Strategy division. Previously, Erin was the General Manager of Strategy and Development at SUEZ. She initially gained her investment banking experience at UBS Australia as a Director advising clients in the general industrials and infrastructure sectors.
Erin started her career at Allens as a lawyer where she advised on a number of high profile M&A transactions.
Erin was a Director of Women in Banking and Finance from 2015 to 2021. She is a University Medallist with a Bachelor of Commerce / Law from the University of Sydney.
Rohan Wolfers joined Pacific Equity Partners in 2010. Before joining PEP, Rohan was with Navis Capital Partners and Merrill Lynch Global Private Equity in Australia, Asia and North America. Rohan received a PLD from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Economics from the University of Sydney.