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Deborah Chew

Partner

+61 3 9603 3550
deborah.chew@hallandwilcox.com.au
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Current Practice

Deborah is the Lead Partner for the firm's Corporate & Commercial practice and is also a member of the firm's International Services team.

Deborah has extensive experience across a broad range of commercial transactions.

Deborah's current practice includes:

  • corporate and commercial transactions, including private mergers and acquisitions and trade sales and equity investments;
  • private equity and venture capital transactions including management buy-outs;
  • shareholders and joint venture arrangements;
  • public and private issuances of shares and debt securities;
  • ASX listed company and Corporations Act advice including, in respect of, continuous disclosure obligations, related party transactions, corporate governance and directors’ duties;
  • commercialisation structuring and corporate organisational restructuring;
  • employee incentive plans and employment agreements;
  • supply, distribution and freight haulage agreements;
  • licence agreements;
  • standard terms and conditions; and 
  • a wide variety of other contractual arrangements.

Experience

Deborah has worked on and led many major transactions, including: 

  • acting as local Australian counsel for Mylan Inc in its acquisition of Merck’s global generic pharmaceuticals business (including Alphapharm Pty Ltd);
  • the proposed demerger and the subsequent sale by Admiralty Resources NL of its Rincon Lithium subsidiary;
  • acting for Cytopia Limited (a biotech company that was formerly ASX listed) in its requisition (with 14 other shareholders) of a general meeting of Progen Pharmaceuticals Limited to remove the current board of directors of Progen and appoint three new directors;
  • acting for the Colorado management team in connection with their co-investment (with a private equity fund managed by Affinity Equity Partners) in the Colorado group of companies;
  • advising the management teams of three national retailers on their respective co-investments with private equity funds;
  • the sale of the Red Rooster business by Coles; and
  • the successful bid by Telecom New Zealand for the telecommunications outsourcing work of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. 
Deborah’s major clients span a range of industries, with a particular focus on the IT and biotech industries, and vary in size from start-ups to Australian industry leaders. 

Qualifications

Deborah has a Juris Doctor from Columbia Law School (New York) and a Bachelor of Arts from Vassar College (New York).  She joined Hall & Wilcox in 2005 as a partner.

Deborah began her legal career in New York, where she practised corporate and commercial law for over 10 years (first with the San Francisco-based firm Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe and then with the leading New York firm, Debevoise & Plimpton). In 1999, she relocated to Australia and joined Allens Arthur Robinson. Deborah was a member of Allens’ Corporate & Commercial Department (first as a senior associate and then as a partner) until 2004.

Deborah is a member of the Law Institute of Victoria, the Australian Corporate Lawyers Association, the Australian Venture Capital Association and the American Chamber of Commerce.

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