legal and business advice across borders

A global power equipment manufacturer headquartered in the US with an Australian subsidiary came to Macpherson Kelley wanting to standardise its contracts around the world. With our Multilaw partner network we coordinated the work. We localised the contract for Australian conditions and then adapted it for use around South East Asia. The standardised contracts have made it easier for head office to administer their deals around the world.

PLN acted for the financing consortium to a project that delivered the first fibre cable to Vanuatu in the Pacific, joining it via cable with Fiji. The project entailed due diligence in both countries and preparation and negotiation of financing and project documents, closing opinions and facilitating drawdowns as the project progressed. On completion the cable delivered much cheaper and more timely access to data to a country that had otherwise been beholden to access via satellite.

PLN acted for United Airlines in the Australian component of its global merger with Continental Airlines. The project entailed creation of a new operating entity in Australia and the migration of the Australian operations of both airlines into that entity (occurring at one designated point in time when both airline’s aircraft around the globe were grounded), together with the negotiation of all regulatory approvals from the various aviation regulators/authorities across Australia.

PLN has acted on various acquisitions of key equity positions in financial institutions in Australia and elsewhere. This includes the purchase by one of Australia’s largest banks of the operations of another bank in six jurisdictions in the Pacific. We acted as the lead legal team for the transaction, including the carrying out of multi-jurisdictional due diligence, preparation and negotiation of transaction documents, obtaining all regulatory and other approvals in all operating locations and facilitating the closing of the transaction.