Herbert Smith Freehills, Baker McKenzie Advise on $2.8B Australian Bank Asset Management Sale
Altogether, 27 jurisdictions were involved in the transaction, which completed on Aug. 2.
August 06, 2019 at 12:39 PM
2 minute read
(Photo: Brendon Thorne/Bloomberg)
Herbert Smith Freehills has advised Commonwealth Bank of Australia on the recent AUD4.2 billion (about $2.8 billion) sale of its global asset management business to Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corp., while Baker McKenzie advised the Japanese buyer.
The Herbert Smith Freehills team advising on the Colonial First State Global Asset Management sale was led by Sydney-based partner Tony Damian, who coordinated lawyers across the firm's global offices including in London, Tokyo, Frankfurt, Paris, Madrid, Hong Kong and Singapore, the firm said in a statement.
Altogether, 27 jurisdictions were involved in the transaction, which completed on August 2.
"This is a large and important global deal, involving complex regulatory issues and approvals, as well as the coordination of a team around the world," Damian said.
Baker McKenzie said the transaction will provide Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group with substantial enhancement of its global asset management services in many key locations around the world.
"The transaction has illustrated the ability of Baker McKenzie to successfully execute a cross-border, multinational, market-leading M&A transaction in the financial services industry, in an expedited timeframe," said Baker McKenzie lead M&A partners – Sydney-based Ben McLaughlin and Tokyo-based Tetsuo Tsujimoto – in a statement.
The Commonwealth Bank is the largest of Australia's Big Four banks, which dominate banking in the country. Colonial First State operates across Asia-Pacific, the U.K., Europe and the U.S., and has approximately AUD200 billion ($135 billion) in assets under management.
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group is one of the largest banking institutions in Japan.
There is currently strong demand for financial services lawyers and risk and regulatory experts in Australia, in the wake of a government-sponsored inquiry that revealed widespread misconduct across the financial sector.
In the resulting report released in February, former High Court Justice Kenneth Hayne QC recommended 76 changes be made to the Australian financial industry – changes that would produce tougher regulations and improved governance.
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