Mergermarket M&A Forum Australia 2023
The premier M&A forum in Australia
Four Seasons Hotel, Sydney and Online
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Simon is currently focusing on private opportunities.
He was previously Head of Investment Banking Australia and New Zealand at J.P. Morgan. During his almost thirty year career in investment banking he worked at Citigroup and Merrill Lynch in various roles including Head of M&A and Head of Real Estate. Prior to working in investment banking he was a solicitor at Baker and McKenzie.
Simon has a Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Laws (Honours) from Queensland University.
Stephen Ridgeway was appointed a Commissioner of the ACCC in June 2019.
Stephen chairs the ACCC’s Mergers Review and Competition Exemptions Committees, and is a member of the ACCC’s Enforcement Committee, Consumer Data Rights Committee and Agriculture Board. On 1 March 2022 Stephen also commenced an appointment as an Associate Member of the New Zealand Commerce Commission.
Stephen brings a wealth of experience from his previous roles as a lawyer in the private and public sectors. He is widely recognised as one of Australia’s leading competition and consumer lawyers and an expert in the field. In 2018 Stephen retired as a senior partner at King & Wood Mallesons.
Early in his career, Stephen acted for the ACCC and its predecessor, the Trade Practices Commission, in enforcement litigation as a senior lawyer with the Australian Government Solicitor. After joining private practice in 1998, Stephen had extensive involvement in merger clearance applications in a wide variety of industries. He also had extensive experience in regulatory enforcement actions, including a number of landmark ACCC enforcement matters.
During 2011 and 2012 Stephen was National Chairman of the Competition and Consumer Committee of the Law Council of Australia, and led consultations with the ACCC and Treasury about policy and enforcement matters. He was a member of the Executive Committee of the Business Law Section of the Law Council of Australia from 2016 to 2018.
Stephen holds a Bachelor of Science (Honours) from the University of New South Wales and a Bachelor of Laws from the Australian National University.
Allan has been the Chief Executive of the Takeovers Panel since 2008. He holds the qualifications of Master of Laws, Bachelor of Laws (Hons) and Bachelor of Commerce (Hons) from Melbourne University. Allan worked for Minter Ellison (1993-1995) and ASIC (1995-2007). His last position at ASIC was as the Director, Capital Markets (2005 to 2007). Allan has over 25 years’ experience in company and securities law, with a particular emphasis on mergers and acquisitions and capital markets. Allan is an observer at the Corporations Committee of the Business Law Section of the Law Council of Australia.
Founding Partner - Head of Technology & Co-Head of Industrials
Luke has over 16 years investment banking experience.
He has completed over 50 transactions across M&A and capital markets.
Most recent listed company M&A experience includes adviser to Coca Cola Amatil on its acquisition by CCEP, adviser to Bingo on its acquisition by MIRA and adviser to Dye & Durham on its acquisition of Link Group.
Luke has Bachelor of Economics and Bachelor of Laws from University of Sydney.
He started his career in the M&A team at Allens.
Michael Blickstead is a Senior Managing Director in the Private Equity Group based in Sydney and Head of Australia / New Zealand Private Equity.
Before joining Blackstone, Mr. Blickstead was a Division Director / Managing Director and Head of Principal Finance Asia Pacific for Macquarie Group where he invested across the capital structure. Prior to that, he was an Investment Director at Archer Capital, one of Australia’s leading domestic private equity firms. Mr. Blickstead started his career in the Private Equity Group at Goldman Sachs in New York and London.
Mr. Blickstead received a Bachelor of Arts, cum laude in Economics, from Harvard University as well as an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Alex is one of Australia’s most experienced investment bankers with over 25 years top tier professional experience and is Head of Capital Markets & Advisory for Citi in Australia & New Zealand.
He has a proven track record of providing financial and strategic advice to major Australian and international corporations in connection with a broad range of corporate issues including complex M&A and capital markets transactions.
Alex has deep experience in connection with Australian public company takeovers and change of control transactions and was appointed by the Australian Government as President of the Australian Takeovers Panel in 2019, a role which he continues to perform.
Prior to joining Citi in July 2020, Alex was Head of Investment Banking & Head of Mergers and Acquisition Advisory for Deutsche Bank AG Australia. Alex commenced his professional career as a corporate lawyer at Allens Arthur Robinson in 1994.
Alex has a Bachelor of Laws (First Class Honours) from the University of Melbourne.
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.
Kierin is a Managing Director, and Head of M&A Australia and New Zealand, at JP Morgan.
He is a highly experienced M&A banker, having completed over $100 billion of transactions across a diverse range of industries. In an experience spanning nearly two decades, he has advised leading corporates in Australia and globally, financial investors, governments and entrepreneurs on landmark M&A transactions.
Ben Duff is a Division Director and the Head of Originations in Macquarie’s Corporate and Leveraged Finance team. Ben has over 15 years experience providing corporate, acquisition and growth capital solutions to borrowers across a number of jurisdictions. Over the past 8 years, Ben has been part of the team empowered to build Macquarie’s Middle Market Corporate and Leverage Finance business with a focus on providing acquisition and growth capital solutions primarily to mid-market privately held and private equity sponsored businesses.
Kara Frederick
Managing Partner
Tiger Financial Group
Kara is the Founder and Managing Partner of Tiger Financial Group (TFG), a leading financial services firm empowering Australian growth companies into global markets. Kara is also Managing Partner in a private capital fund for cleantech.
TFG’s recent advisory and investment deal highlights include but are not limited to: US$1.2 billion NASDAQ listing for global EV charging leader Tritium, advisory services for HR tech ‘unicorn’ Culture Amp, and investment in fintech leader Indebted.
Kara has extensive international investment and capital markets experience. She previously led a $150 million fintech fund and spent a decade on Wall Street and Silicon Valley, including with Goldman Sachs Capital Partners.
Kara’s leadership roles also include being a Director of MGA Thermal (a leading Hunter-based long duration storage leader), a Member of the Governance Board of ATRaCE ($200M commitment to NSW-based cleantech start-ups) and as co-head of Princeton University’s Alumni Schools Committee, among others.
Kara spends her time in the Hunter and Sydney with her young family.
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.
Richard is a Managing Director and Head of M&A for Morgan Stanley in Australia. Since joining the firm in 2010, Richard has advised clients on numerous high profile and complex M&A transactions. Recent landmark transactions include advising Square on its $39bn acquisition of Afterpay, Blackstone on its $9bn bid for Crown, MIRA and Aware on their completed $4.6bn acquisition of Vocus Group and Virgin Australia on its $3.5bn sale to Bain Capital.
Danny Hunt is Managing Director, Proxy for APAC at Sodali & Co. Leading the team that supports issuers secure shareholder approval for corporate actions, Danny has advised a number of clients across high-profile M&A transactions and contentious activist situations to help establish Sodali & Co as the #1 Global M&A Advisor as per Mergermarket’s most recent rankings. As a result, Danny has established himself as one of the most experienced proxy solicitation and shareholder engagement professionals in the Australian market.
Andrew Joyce, Partner
Andrew Joyce joined is a Partner at Potentia and has been with the firm since 2019. Andrew has over 16 years’ experience in M&A, Management Consulting and Technology.
Within the Potentia portfolio, Andrew is a director of Linkly and Commerce Vision.
Prior to joining Potentia, Andrew was the Co-Founder of two technology businesses, across both software and hardware.
Prior to this, Andrew was an Investment Manager at Archer Capital, an Australian mid-market Private Equity fund based in Sydney. Andrew commenced his career at Bain & Company, where he worked across clients in the telecommunication and banking sectors.
Andrew holds a Bachelor of Engineering with First Class Honours from the University of New South Wales, where he was a Malcolm Chaikin Scholarship recipient.
Michael is General Manager, Corporate Strategy, Development & Planning at Origin Energy. Michael’s responsibilities including overseeing M&A, corporate strategy, financial planning, and Origin’s investment office. Prior to his current position, Michael has had various roles within Origin across M&A, strategy and treasury and prior to joining Origin worked in private equity and investment banking. Michael holds a BCom (Hons) Finance/Economics from UNSW.
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.
Frank Maniere – Head of Corporate Development, Endeavour Energy
Frank is a seasoned professional with nearly 20 years’ global experience in corporate finance and management consulting, with particular focus in the energy sector, encompassing infrastructure and private investment.
He joined Endeavour Energy as Head of Corporate Development in 2019 and plays a pivotal role in driving commercial opportunities and strategic partnerships for the group as it evolves from a traditional ‘poles and wires’ electricity distribution network to a modern grid, connecting over 1.1 million homes and businesses across Sydney’s Greater West, Blue Mountains, Southern Highlands, Illawarra and the South Coast of NSW.
Prior to joining Endeavour Energy, Frank held management roles with Societe Generale Corporate and Investment Banking, and a range of companies ranging in size from start-ups to listed multi-nationals with international exposure in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific.
Frank holds a Master’s in Mechanical Engineering, MSc Finance from Imperial College London and an MBA from Instead.
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
Chris leads the Private Equity and M&A Services (PEMA) practice for Marsh in the Pacific region. Chris is responsible for the seamless delivery of PEMA’s services to help corporations, private equity firms, alternative asset managers, lenders and infrastructure investors to identify and manage M&A risks.
Prior to joining Marsh, Chris focused on transaction-related insurances at another global insurance broker. Prior to this, Chris practiced law in the United States, and has experience in mergers and acquisitions, PE, and general corporate matters at two large American law firms.
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.
Brendan is Co-Head of Technology, Media & Telecoms for UBS Australasia, with a particular focus on the software/internet side.
He has approx. 15 years investment banking experience, the last decade of which he has covered the Technology and TMT sectors.
Most recently, Brendan has advised the likes of ELMO Software, Nitro Software, Siteminder, Domain Holdings, Hansen Technologies and Class Ltd .
Brendan has a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Sydney and is a qualified Chartered Accountant.
Simon Pither joined Quadrant Private Equity in May 2008 from Melbourne-based mid-market private equity fund, Advent Private Capital. Prior to this Simon worked for Credit Agricole Indosuez Private Equity in London, investing in mid-market private equity and mezzanine opportunities.
Simon works in the Quadrant Growth Fund, currently investing the $530m QGF2, and is on the Board of QGF1 and QGF2 portfolio companies across consumer, healthcare and technology sectors.
Jimmy Rich is a Partner at Greenstone Partners, a leading independent corporate advisory firm focused on mid-market mergers, acquisitions and divestments.
Jimmy joined Greenstone Partners in 2006 and has a broad range of experience in M&A, debt and equity transactions for public, private and private equity clients. Most recently, Jimmy has advised Airport Retail Enterprises on the sale to LSE-listed SSP Group; Pinnacle Rehab on the sale to Crescent Capital Partners; Gordon Brothers Industries on the sale to NYSE-listed Johnson Controls; and Aidacare on an investment by Quadrant Private Equity. Jimmy also sits on the Advisory Committee of Greenbanks Tasmanian Whisky Co.
Sam Riley is the CEO and co-founder of Ansarada. Sam’s vision is to help millions of businesses raise and protect their potential throughout their lifecycle. Ansarada is doing this through leveraging all its experience from running +24,000 M&A deals across the globe into the AI-powered platform, which provides the visibility, insights, connections and automation that companies need to be ready for the most important outcomes in their lifecycle, including debt and equity capital raising, compliance, refinancing, M&A and more.
Today, Ansarada is a complete Operating System for governing critical information, so you can reduce risk, boost efficiencies, and drive decision making at every stage of a company's lifecycle. Their portfolio of SaaS solutions now includes Deals, Board, Tenders and Compliance, bringing together the AI-powered Virtual Data Rooms, project management workflow tool, highly secure board portal, and governance & compliance pathways into a single powerful platform.
Ansarada was established with just $30k in capital and now has 200 employees around the world and an annual revenue of~$38m. More than 400,000 professionals use Ansarada’s platform and data rooms for transactions such as capital raising, private placements, IPO’s, asset sales and more. Ansarada has frequently been listed on the Deloitte Technology Fast50 and BRW’s Best Places to Work in Australia Awards.
Sam is passionate about leadership, simplicity, challenging the status quo and serving those less fortunate. Sam has pledged 1 percent of Ansarada’s equity, time and product to the Adara Group, a unique organization working to improve the lives of women and children from Nepal and Uganda living in extreme poverty
Matt Robinson - Managing Director - Buyout and Secure Assets
Matt joined Pacific Equity Partners in 2009. Prior to joining PEP, he was a consultant with Bain & Company in Australia. Matt was an Innovation Scholar at Macquarie University where he received a Bachelor of Commerce (Actuarial Studies) and was awarded the Vice Chancellor’s Commendation for Academic Excellence.
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.
Helen is a Partner in the KPMG Mergers & Acquisitions team, specialising in advising privately owned companies on sell side and buy side transactions. Helen has particular expertise in the industrials and healthcare sectors.
Executive Director, Head of ESG
Katherine leads Gresham’s ESG advisory capability and specialises in transactions with significant environmental, social or governance opportunities or challenges. Katherine has more than 20 years’ experience executing M&A transactions, restructuring initiatives and capital raisings, worth over $25 billion across a broad range of industries including asset management, banking, energy, infrastructure, consumer products, healthcare, aged care, industrials and agribusiness. Katherine has held investment banking roles as well as in-house M&A advisory roles with some of Australia’s largest banks and asset managers. As a result she has a strong understanding of M&A from both an internal corporate and an external advisory perspective.
In addition to M&A advisory, she has strong strategy, ESG and sustainable finance credentials. Prior to joining Gresham, Katherine was responsible for leading National Australia Bank’s (NAB’s) Corporate and Institutional ESG advisory capability, and has also led strategy and ESG functions within AMP Capital, Challenger Funds Management and the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
Symon joined Advent in 2007 and has more than 21 years of experience in the private equity and financial advisory industries. While at Advent, he has partnered with numerous founders to help them with strategy, growth and building their businesses. He also co-heads Advent’s Responsible Investing program. Symon is currently a director of Zero Latency VR, Flintfox and Frosty Boy. Prior to joining Advent Partners, Symon was a corporate advisor with KPMG in Melbourne focusing on capital raisings, M&A, turnarounds and restructurings. He holds a Master of Applied Finance from Macquarie University and a Bachelor of Commerce from Melbourne University. He is an Associate of the Institute of Chartered Accountants and a Senior Associate of the Financial Services Institute of Australasia. He is also a Graduate Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Head of Responsible Investment & Sustainability,
Rest Super
Leilani Weier joined Rest in August 2019 as an experienced responsible investment, ESG and sustainability leader. Leilani has implemented successful ESG-related strategies across sectors and geographies, having built and led high-performing teams. Leilani is a strategic thinker, an organisational influencer and change-maker. Leilani’s professional motivation is to drive outcomes through managing ESG and climate-related factors to reduce risks and enhance investment performance for Rest members. She has a degree in Environmental Science (Natural Resources) from the University of Queensland, holds the One Planet MBA from the University of Exeter (with Dean’s Commendation) and is a Chartered Environmentalist.
Katie Wood is a Managing Director at Adamantem Capital. Katie has investment banking, corporate development and strategy experience from her time working for Macquarie from 2011-2015. Katie sits on the board of Linen Services Australia and NAK.
She received a Bachelor of Commerce (Hons) from the University of Queensland.