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• Advised Whitehaven Coal on its US$4.1bn acquisition of the Blackwater and Daunia metallurgical coal mines from BHP and Mitsubishi Development, positioning Whitehaven as a leading metallurgical coal producer.
  
• Advised Esso Australia Resources on a dispute with the ATO regarding the tax treatment of Bass Strait gas payments under the PRRTA Act; The Federal Court initially ruled in Esso’s favour, but the Full Court allowed the Commissioner of Taxation’s appeal.
  
• Advised Evolution Mining and ICA Partners on the Mt Rawdon Pumped Hydro project, providing specialist tax advice to support development of a pumped hydro energy storage facility and assist with navigating regulatory and boardroom considerations.
  

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• Advised Compagnie de Saint-Gobain S.A. on its A$4.5bn acquisition of CSR Limited via a scheme of arrangement, including tax due diligence, acquisition structuring, funding arrangements, transactional taxes, post-completion compliance, and post-transaction integration.
  
• Advised DAZN on its acquisition of 100% of NXE Australia (Foxtel Group) from News Corporation and Telstra, including tax and stamp duty structuring, due diligence, modelling, and negotiation of the share sale agreement.
  
• Advised Stockland Supalai Residential Communities Partnership and Stockland Corporation on the acquisition of 12 master-planned residential communities from Lendlease Corporation across multiple Australian states, making SSRCP the country’s largest developer of house and land packages.
  

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• Acted for Automotive Invest Pty Ltd (Gosford Classic Car Museum) in a dispute with the ATO regarding the application of luxury car tax to vehicles held for sale in the museum.
  
• Advised Blackstone, the world’s largest alternative asset manager, on its AUD$24bn acquisition of AirTrunk, a leading data centre provider.
  
• Advised Alumina on its US$3.3bn acquisition by Alcoa Corporation by way of a scheme of arrangement, including all tax and legal matters and preparation of an ATO class ruling for Alumina and its shareholders.
  

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• Acted for Steven Bendel and Gleewin Investments in a successful challenge to the regulator’s position that unpaid entitlements to income of a trust estate amount to a ‘loan’, and deemed dividends, for the purposes of Division 7A of Australia’s tax laws.
  
• Acted for a large integrated family-owned property development business in the internal sale and restructure of its integrated property development business, valued at approximately $1bn.
  
• Advised Premier Investments on the $1bn combination of its Apparel Brands business with Myer; the merger between Premier Investments’ Apparel Brands business and Myer is a significant transaction in the Australian retail landscape.
  

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• Advised HMC Capital as lead indirect tax advisor on the establishment of the ASX-listed DigiCo Infrastructure REIT with AUD 4bn+ of AUM and the IPO of securities in the REIT, which included advising on the indirect tax aspects of the REIT’s acquisition of critical Australian data centres acquired for approximately AUD2.5bn.
  
• Acting as the primary tax advisor for DoorDash in Australia.
  
• Advised Cargill on a complex deal to acquire the remaining 50 per cent stake it does not already own in Teys.
  

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• Acting for a litigation funder in filing class actions in the Federal Court against Victoria and Queensland challenging the constitutional validity of foreign purchaser and absentee owner land tax surcharges.
  
• Represented Godolphin Australia Limited in its appeal to the High Court of Australia concerning the availability of the primary production exemption under the New South Wales land tax regime.
   
  
• Advised the UNSW Tax Clinic pro bono on tax reform supporting women in financial hardship who are victims of domestic and economic abuse, which included policy submissions, engagement with the ATO and Federal Government, and contributing to the ATO Vulnerability Framework and Parliamentary consultations.
  

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• Acted for a high-net-worth client in a pre-litigation tax audit, one of the most significant private group audits in Australia.
  
• Advised Australian Unity on the merger of two mutual life insurers under the Financial Sector (Transfer and Restructure) Act 1999 (Cth), marking the first consolidation of mutual life companies in Australia and reinforcing the firm’s reputation in insurance restructuring.
   
  
• Advised Integrity Life on the transfer of its retail business to AIA Australia through a scheme under Part 9 of the Life Insurance Act 1995 (Cth), the standard mechanism for transferring life insurance policies.
  

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• Representing Alcoa in relation to a significant transfer pricing issue related to sales of alumina; the total reported exposure of approximately AUD1.4bn is one of the largest potential exposures that a multinational group has faced in recent times.
  
• Represented Woolworths Group Limited in its acquisition of certain assets of Takeoff Technologies, Inc.
  
• Acting as the primary tax advisor for DoorDash in Australia, working on a variety of complex and strategically important projects including successfully settling a GST audit, restructuring its Australian operations and intra-group supply contracts, executing various capital raising programmes and managing the application of a variety of international tax reforms relevant to our new anti-hybrid rules, country by country reporting and Pillar 1 and 2.
  

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• Acting as counsel for Elka Capital in the full process of structuring and establishing a new residential land lease fund, acting in the investment by Assembly Funds Management into both the fund and Elka Capital, through to the initial investment by the fund in two properties in Victoria.
  
• Advised innovative generative AI company Leonardo Interactive Pty Ltd on its strategic acquisition by Canva, Inc., a globally renowned graphic design powerhouse founded in Australia as part of a part cash, part scrip deal cross-border deal.
  
• Acted as counsel for Spaceship Financial Pty Ltd in all aspects of its strategic transaction, including corporate and M&A and tax structuring and advice.
  

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• Advised Chevron on Australian tax aspects of its transformational asset swap involving Chevron’s interest in the North West Shelf LNG Project (including oil, domestic gas, and LNG assets) and Woodside Petroleum’s interest in the Wheatstone LNG Project (including Woodsides’ interests in the Julimar and Brunello fields) and also involving Chevron’s interest in the Angel CCS Project.
  
• Advising on tax aspects of Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) as issuer as to matters of Australian tax law in connection with the annual update of their Reg S USD30bn Covered Bond Programme guaranteed by Perpetual Corporate Trust.
  
• Assisted Insignia with the tax treatment of a programme of divestments following the MLC acquisition
  

Highlight-Mandate

• Advised (Fusion) on W&I insurance policies in relation to a number of M&A transactions.
  
• Advised (Cooley (UK) LLP) (the London Office of a US headquartered international law firm) on equity incentive plan arrangements for approximately 10-15 of its clients.
  
• Advising an ASX listed property group on the stamp duty implications of a sale of units in three trusts holding land in Melbourne and, subsequently, a change of trustee of those trusts, including advising on the transaction documentation and preparing a stamp duty exemption application.