Leading New Zealand law firm MinterEllisonRuddWatts has, together with Herbert Smith Freehills in Australia, advised Australasia’s most-awarded and largest transformation and turnaround private equity firm, Allegro Funds, on its acquisition of Toll Global Express (TGE). It is a landmark deal for Allegro and the culmination of months of work. TGE is a highly diversified transportation and logistics business with a network across Australia and New Zealand. It provides express parcel, freight delivery and domestic forwarding services in Australia, and transport and contract logistics services in New Zealand.
MinterEllisonRuddWatts advised on the New Zealand aspects of the acquisition, as well as the debt funding arrangements for the transaction which included debt backed by Scottish Pacific (in respect of receivables financing) and Gordon Brothers (in respect of asset financing).
Corporate partner Mark Stuart led the firm’s merger and acquisition advice with support from property partner David Gilbert, whilst banking partner Steve Gallaugher led the financing team on the deal with Simon Gray (Special Counsel).
On completion of the deal, Mark Stuart commented: “We are delighted to have worked alongside the team at Allegro to help them on this significant acquisition. It is particularly satisfying being able to complete the transaction smoothly given the current lockdowns in Australia and New Zealand.”
Khosrow Kyanian, Allegro Investment Manager commented: “The team at Allegro are extremely grateful to the MinterEllisonRuddWatts team for all of their help on what was a highly complicated trans-Tasman transaction and a landmark deal for Allegro.”
Allegro believes that Toll Global Express’ people and its assets can deliver strong growth in the future. This business has an important role to play as an enabler for e-commerce which will be crucial in the economic recovery of Australia and New Zealand post COVID-19.
MinterEllisonRuddWatts’ wider deal team also included Gillian Service, Bianca Tree, Brendon Prebble, Brad Cope, Zenia Kumar and Miranda Hing.
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