Mergermarket M&A Forum Australia 2023
The premier M&A forum in Australia
Four Seasons Hotel, Sydney and Online
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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.
Alexis is one of Australia’s most experienced investment bankers with over 25 years top tier professional experience. He has a proven track record of providing financial and strategic advice to Boards and Management teams 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 in2019, 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 and was awarded the Supreme Court Prize in Law (top of his graduating class). Alex also holds a Graduate Diploma of applied Finance and Investments (Honours) from the Securities Institute of Australia (now FINSIA).
Marcus joined Quadrant Private Equity in March 2006 and is a Managing Partner. Marcus has nearly 30 years of private equity experience starting in the UK with NatWest Ventures (now Bridgepoint). He joined AMP in 1994 as Joint Head of Private Equity where he completed several major buyouts including Tasman Building Products.
Marcus has been a member of the Quadrant Investment Committee for every fund from QPE I to QPE VII and QGF 1 and 11. He jointly heads Quadrant’s Growth Funds and is a Director of Quadrant investees Partnered Health, TDG Environmental, JAG, Cancer Care Associates, Prime 100 and Quadlock.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 Rubinstein, Managing Director
Marc is a Managing Director and has been at Rothschild & Co for over 15 years.
His experience covers complex, cross-border transactions in the Healthcare, Retail and Business Services sectors, with strong private equity and public market expertise.
Marc holds a combined Bachelor of Applied Finance / Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting) Degree from Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia.
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.
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.