Buddle Findlay

Buddle Findlay is ranked ‘Outstanding’ in Corporate and M&A, Intellectual property, Restructuring and insolvency, and Tax. Head of the firm’s corporate and commercial practice Simon Vodanovich mainly advises on takeovers, M&A, and capital raisings. Partner Peter Owles specialises in infrastructure and project development. He also provides corporate and commercial advice to companies with a particular focus on the energy and infrastructure sectors. Partner Frank Porter left the firm in December 2018.

Banking and finance

Work highlights

Advised Mobi2Go on its series A funding round in respect of a substantial share subscription by Movac Fund 4.

Capital markets

Work highlights

Acted for Southland Building Society (SBS Bank) in relation to its $20 million tier 2 subordinated note issue in New Zealand. 

Acted for Contact Energy on the issuance of an NZX-listed green bond under its Green Borrowing Programme.

Key clients

Future Mobility Solutions, Lewis Tucker, Predict HQ, SBS Bank

Corporate and M&A

Work highlights

Advised Caltex Australia on the acquisition of 77 Gull Service Stations and terminal fuel assets.

Advised Canadian investment manager Fiera Comox on its first New Zealand investment, the acquisition of a significant stake in Rangitata Dairies, a large corporate dairy farming operation in New Zealand.

Advised Australian equity firm The Growth Fund on its acquisition of a major stake in Plan B.

Key clients

Burger King, Nongfu Spring Company, Nu-Mega Ingredients (NZ), Predict HQ, Trinity MRI, Zespri Group

Construction

Work highlights

Advised Auckland Transport and Auckland Council on the City Rail Link (CRL) project construction contracts. CRL is a rail infrastructure project currently under construction in Auckland. The project consists of the construction of a 3.5km long double-track rail tunnel underneath Auckland's CBD.

Advised Top Garden Property Development on the drafting of all project documents of the development of a large residential project in Hobsonville Point.

Key clients

Landcorp Farming, Precinct Properties Holdings, Steel & Tube Holdings

Dispute resolution

Work highlights

Acted for kiwifruit marketer Zespri Group against formerly licensed growers, claiming breach of contract and the Plant Variety Rights Act following alleged unauthorised supply and licensing of kiwifruit in China.

Acted for Southern Response Earthquake Services on defending a class action brought by claimants who have settled their insurance claims and wish to revisit those settlements.

Acted for Contact Energy in high court proceedings on seeking declarations regarding the scope of the acceptable quality guarantee for electricity.

Key clients

General Electric International, Sky Network Television

Intellectual property

Work highlights

Acted for Manuka Honey Appellation Society on the protection of the term ‘Manuka Honey’ as a designation of a special type of honey from New Zealand. 

Advised a Tobacco manufacturer and distributor on trademark registrations in selected Pacific Island territories.

Acted for one of the world's largest hotel groups on trademark filing and brand protection in New Zealand.

Key clients

Alibaba Group, Auckland Council, Colgate-Palmolive

Regulatory

Work highlights

Provided regulatory advice to the Tertiary Education Commission, which was responsible for implementing the government’s first year fees-free tertiary education initiative.

Acted for Central Technical Advisory Services, a shared service organisation for New Zealand's public health sector, on a new national community pharmacist services contract for over a thousand community pharmacy contract holders throughout New Zealand. 

Advised Zespri International on the implementation of the August 2017 amendments to the Kiwifruit Export Regulations.

Key clients

Drylandcarbon, Electricity Authority, Nongfu Spring

Restructuring and insolvency

Work highlights

Advised Asia-Pacific advisory and investment firm KordaMentha as the administrators, deed administrators and liquidators of Solid Energy New Zealand and 13 of its subsidiary companies. 

Tax

Work highlights

Advised Norske Skog and its local subsidiaries in respect of mitigating tax risks upon the sale of shares in Norske Skog.

Advised Z Energy on the consequences of the new Auckland regional fuel tax regime.

Advised Top Capital Partners as key tax advisors on the IPO of UP Fintech Holdings, a worldwide brokerage group with annual trading volumes in excess of $120 billion, on its offer of American depository shares to the public.

Key clients

Lewis Tucker & Co, The Growth Fund, Top Capital Partners

Client feedback

“Excellent. The firm fully understands requirements from both financier and borrower perspective and applies a commercial and pragmatic approach to reaching the desired outcomes while ensuring that necessary legal matters are incorporated. It’s willing to discuss/debate matters involved on a commercial basis.” – Banking and finance

“Very commercial and pragmatic. Collaborative with all parties.” – Banking and finance

“Buddle Findlay's level of service and industry knowledge are excellent, and value for money with plenty of partner time. They are always responsive and willing to go the extra mile to meet our clients' deadlines.” – Banking and finance

“High efficiency, easy communication, impressively professional and clear responsibility.” – Banking and finance

“The main point of contact Myles O'Brien is always available to discuss cases/issues and when engaged always provides great advice and solutions. We are always kept informed of progress.” – Banking and finance

“Work prepared accurately and in a timely manner.” – Banking and finance

“The firm's industry and legal expertise are unquestionable.” – Banking and finance

“Excellent, specialist expertise in banking and finance and the agricultural sector. Work is provided in a timely manner, on the estimate and is always commercial and pragmatic.” – Banking and finance

“Buddle Findlay has an exceptionally strong finance practice with a team of partners who all provide sound, reasoned, commercial advice. They manage the relationship very well and see transactions as a true collaboration between the customer and law firm.” – Banking and finance

“Buddle Findlay was good at listening, had a good grasp of the issue, had extremely good communication and was outcome focused. It was a complicated matter which they negotiated with skill.” – Competition/antitrust

“Buddle Findlay employs very talented lawyers, who have deep knowledge in the NZ market, but have acquired deep technical skills from working overseas and being across the market. Out of all the firms we use in NZ and Australia, Buddle Findlay is the only one that is able to integrate across multiple disciplines (e.g. M&A, employment, IP, etc.) while always being across micro issues and the big picture. Buddle Findlay takes their responsibility to us just as seriously consistently looking after our interests and going beyond the call of duty to assist us.” – Corporate and M&A

“Really good, they know our business and are able to give a good level of advice.”  – Corporate and M&A

“Very proactive and commercial, with excellent client management.” – Corporate and M&A

“They have provided great guidance. They have taken the time to understand our business and culture. They are quick and efficient to act. They have a pragmatic approach and don't over engineer correspondence.” – Dispute resolution

“The firm has been consistently reliable at providing professional advice on time and achieving the right outcomes for us. The depth of services from specialist practitioners through to contract and administrative support that they supply, is a great strength which combined with their long and loyal history with us, we have no need or desire to seek advice from another firm.” – Energy

“Buddle Findlay is an excellent law firm. Nuanced advance that is proportionate to the underlying value of the matter at hand. Among the external counsel I use in APAC markets, it is among the best for providing local advice in a manner that works for a multinational company.” – Intellectual property

“Excellent, offer first class authoritative subject matter expert advice and negotiating strategies to resolve issues. Very pleasant and professional to deal with. Time focused. Great value for money.” – Labour and employment

“Excellent depth of experience for this area of law. Very responsive. Not cheap but the quality of work is first rate.” – Labour and employment

“Very responsive to requests. Get to know your organisation and key people and culture well so in a very good position to advise you of your risks.” – Labour and employment

“Reliable, knowledgeable, up-to-date and practical advice. Approachable and easy to discuss matters with, including how to frame approach and strategy.” – Labour and employment

“Buddle Findlay has an amazing tax team, who understand the legislation and can relay that to the layperson in a context that they understand. Their advice has always been sound.” – Tax

“Excellent. Responsive and subject matter experts. Good collaborative working.” – Technology and telecommunications

Miriam Andrews

“Miriam is excellent to work with. She is able to apply the law to matters we are dealing with while bringing a commercial approach to achieving end requirements. Communicates well and is open to discussion/debate to reach workable solutions.”

“Miriam is the ‘go-to’ agricultural specialist.”

Shaun Brookes

“Shaun is technically a very strong lawyer but where he excels is his tactical ability to understand the factors driving the dispute and finding leverage where it appeared there was none. Always finds an angle to make progress.”

Grant Dunn

“Grant's work is always of high quality. Beyond that, he will go beyond the call of duty to make sure our interests are protected.”

Paul Farrugia

“High quality work, excellent communication and timely delivery.”

“Paul is the market's go-to lawyer for property and development financing in New Zealand, particularly on Kiwibuild matters. He stands out for his availability, exceptional technical ability, responsiveness and commerciality.”

“Paul is an excellent relationship manager. He has an excellent understanding of the finance market and is highly regarded for his commercial, sound and detailed approach. I would regard him as one of the top finance partners operating in NZ today.”

Alastair Hercus

“Alastair is consistently an excellent advisor and genuinely cares about the client and outcomes delivered from the advice.”

Lisette Hood

“Lisette is extremely responsive to our requests. She interprets what we need even from very poorly structured briefings and she is always professional, polite and non-judgemental. Lisette treats our company as if it were hers, looking out for our exposure to risk, providing a range of recommendations for us to choose from and making us aware of the potential consequences of our decisions. She has access to specialists and a team of enthusiastic early career lawyers providing a depth of services that meet all of our needs.”

Susie Kilty

“Susie was good at listening, had a good grasp of the issue, had extremely good communication, gave good advice and was outcome focused.”

Sarah McEwan

“Strong attention to detail and a pleasure to work with.”

Terence Ng

“Strong understanding of the banking sector and excellent in communication. Always deliver the work on target timeframe and proactively follow up the progress.”

Myles O'Brien

“He is approachable, very strong legal knowledge, always keeps you informed of progress and comes up with great solutions. Follows through with his commitments. No weakness hence why I only use Myles as my legal contact.”

Peter Owles

“Peter Owles is an excellent banking, finance and project finance lawyer. He's particularly good at pathfinder transactions and finding resolutions to complex issues in a calm and constructive manner.”

Susan Rowe

“Susan is responsive, knowledgeable, reliable and very relatable (not an attribute always found in lawyers).”

Hamish Selby

“Really good at knowing our business and the variety of things we are across. Able to let Hamish know what level of input we require, and chose our battle so that we keep control of our fees.”

Philip Wood

“Philip is an excellent IP and commercial lawyer, who gets straight to point with practical commercially-savvy advice.”

Tony Wilkinson

“Tony is a highly skilled operator with extensive knowledge of the tax legislation. He is very easy to deal with and easy to access.”