Corporate fundraising

Overview

The Hall & Wilcox Corporate & Commercial team has extensive experience advising on, and carrying out, both public and private corporate fundraising for clients wishing to raise capital.

We develop and structure appropriate capital formation vehicles that achieve their commercial aims while observing the strict governance requirements and compliance burdens.

Being a mid-sized firm with an appreciation of the value drivers in middle-market deals, we are well positioned to provide high-level technical advice on structuring and securities issues to ensure the best outcome for all participants.

We advise on all aspects of public and private corporate fundraising, including:

IPOs and rights issues/offers, back-door listings and capital management activities;
appropriate structuring for the amount/type of capital to be raised;
shareholder agreements regulating the relationship between shareholders and the company;
preferred terms of security, eg. convertible notes, preference shares or ordinary shares
fund establishment;
corporate governance and compliance issues, including acceptable disclosure exceptions under the Corporations Act;
due diligence;
liaison with ASIC, the ASX and APRA and relevant international authorities and agencies; and
conflicts of interest management.

Experience

Members of our team have been involved in a large number of middle-market fundraisings, which include:

acted for Permanent Investment Management (a wholly owned subsidiary of Trust Company), the responsible entity of the Grocon Property Trust Australia, in the establishment of the trust and its initial capital raising. The trust owns the new AXA Collins Street premises;
acted for Melbourne IT in its initial public offering and listing on the ASX;
acted for Ford Credit Australia in a proposed public offering of debt securities;
acted for various underwriters (including Macquarie Equity Capital Markets and UBS) in public capital raisings for a variety of companies;
acted for CogState Limited, an ASX listed biotech company, in a non-renounceable rights offer;
acted for APN Funds Management Limited (the responsible entity for 11 property funds) in its initial public offering and listing on the ASX of the APN/UKA European Retail Trust and its two subsequent non-renounceable rights offers;
acted for APN Property Group Limited (which specialises in the management of property funds) in its initial public offering and listing on the ASX;
acted for Biota Holdings in its placement of shares to an investor under ASX Listing Rule 7.1; and
acted for IWL Limited and its CEO, Otto Buttula, in relation to various issues arising in the context of a proposed scheme of arrangement and a subsequent hostile takeover bid by IWL.

Expertise