Sandy Mak Head of Corporate and M&A CORRS CHAMBERS WESTGARTH

A market-leading M&A lawyer, Sandy acts for both corporate and private equity clients across the globe on cross-border public and private mergers and acquisitions, foreign investment, equity raisings, buy-backs and restructurings.

She also advises on ASIC and ASX regulatory work, foreign investment regulations and corporate governance issues.

Sandy has consistently been listed as a leading lawyer by legal directories and publications including Chambers and Partners and Best Lawyers. In 2022 she was named Dealmaker of the Year in the Women in Law Awards, and in 2020 she was named Dealmaker of the Year in both the Lawyers Weekly Australian Law Awards and Women in Law Awards.

She is a guest lecturer at UNSW Law School in the subject of Takeovers and Capital Markets, and also lectures in Sydney University’s Masters of Law subject Takeovers and Reconstructions. She is the Takeovers and Acquisitions and Fundraising for Securities editor for the Halsburys Laws of Australia guide and is also a member of the Corporations Committee of the Law Council of Australia.

In 2021, Sandy was appointed by the Treasurer to the Takeovers Panel for a three year term.

Vivek Das Former Head of Corporate Strategy and M&A SERCO ASIA PACIFIC

Vivek Das, Former Head of Strategy and M&A 

Vivek Das leads Corporate Strategy, M&A and Transformation across Asia Pacific for Serco, one of the world’s leading and UK listed public services outsourcing companies.

 With a wide range of public services offerings ranging from public grounds maintenance on the one end to modernisation of nuclear submarines and weapon systems on the other, Serco thrives on managing complexity while delivering value-for-money to Governments across the developed world. And with this complexity comes an immense opportunity to invest, transform and reinvent the way public services are delivered across the world.

As the Head of Strategy, Vivek leads several programs of capability development and expansion including M&A for Serco. During his 11 years at Serco he has been instrumental in leading several strategic initiatives across the globe such as new country entry, strategic acquisitions, divestments, operating model redesign, and corporate transformation.

With 22 years of M&A and Corporate Strategy experience, Vivek has led several cross-border investment and acquisition initiatives across Pharmaceuticals, Healthcare and Public Services sectors covering North America (USA & Canada), UK & Europe (France, Germany & Italy), the Middle East (UAE & KSA), and theAsia Pacific region (India, Japan & China in addition to Australia).

Prior to joining Serco in 2011, Vivek spent 7 years leading Mergers & Acquisitions and Strategic Investments for some of India’s largest pharmaceutical companies followed by 5-years at Ernst and Young India as part of their Transaction Advisory practice.

Vivek is a Serco Pulse Award winner for Outstanding Commitment and a University Gold Medallist. He has a bachelor’s degree in Finance and Accounting and a Masters’ in business management from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.

Richard Marques Managing Director LUMINIS PARTNERS

Richard has been advising Australian and multinational companies and Government on their M&A and capital markets strategies for almost 20 years. Prior to joining Luminis, Richard was an Executive Director of Greenhill Australia. Prior to that, Richard was an Associate Director at Deloitte.

Richard’s recent advisory roles include advising Pemba on its acquisition of MSL Solutions and sale of Ampion, Spicers Retreat on the sale to Salter Brothers, Amaysim on the sale of its Energy business to AGL Energy and its Mobile business to Optus, Metcash on the acquisition of Total Tools and Home Timer & Hardware, Capgemini on its acquisition of RXP and Empired, Lynas on its $1.6b unsolicited proposal from Wesfarmers, ERM on its recommended taker by Shell, Lion Nathan on its $8.2b minority take out by Kirin and GrainCorp on its $3.0b unsolicited takeover by Archer Daniels Midland. Recent capital markets roles include capital raisings for Qantas, Flight Centre and Metcash, plus advising ReadyTech and Autosports Group on their respective IPOs.

Richard is a Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales

Drew Riethmuller Managing Director, Head of Global Corporate & Investment Banking, Oceania MUFG BANK

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, America 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, US, 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.

Marc Rubinstein Managing Director LUMINIS PARTNERS

Marc is an experienced senior investment banker who has successfully advised clients in a variety of sectors and geographies across the full spectrum of corporate finance transactions, with a focus on M&A.