James is a corporate lawyer specialising in mergers and acquisitions, private equity transactions and equity capital markets.
He advises clients from a variety of industries including private equity sponsors. He is an expert in all aspects of domestic and cross-border M&A deals including public (takeovers and schemes of arrangements) and privately negotiated transactions and ECM deals including cross-border listings on the ASX.
James is qualified in both Australia and the US, and has for many years advised US clients doing business in Australia and Australian clients doing business in the US.
James has been consistently recognised by his peers (Best Lawyers) for each of M&A (since 2010), Private Equity (since 2010), Corporate & Venture Capital Law (since 2010) and by his clients (Chambers) as a leading individual, again for each of Corporate/M&A, Private Equity (2011-2021) and Capital Markets (2016-2021). In Chambers he is described as “easily the best private equity lawyer we have dealt with, especially on cross-border deals”and is regarded as a "solutions-based lawyer who is very hands-on during a deal" and is lauded for producing "high-quality work quickly and with strong client interaction.”
Acting for Archer Capital on its sale of illion to Experian, bringing together two of Australia’s three consumer credit bureaux (2024).
Acting for Caesars, the largest casino-entertainment company in the US, on its acquisition of sports betting technology company, ZeroFlucs (2024).
Acting in relation to its divestment of Invetech, which partners with health and life science leaders to expand the reach of next-generation healthcare by accelerating the design, engineering, and manufacture of commercial-scale diagnostic products and cell therapies, through a management buyout (2024).
Acting in relation to its divestment of NewBook, a bookings software company, to Storable, Inc., an EQT portfolio company (2024).
Acting for Kangarootime (childcare software for early learning, kindergartens, and OSHC services) on the divestment and merger of its Australian operations with Juice Technologies (the owner of childcare management system Kidsoft, (2024).
Acting for BPEA Private Equity Fund VIII (“EQT”) on its acquisition of VetPartners, the leading provider of veterinary and animal health services in Australia and New Zealand (2023).
Acting for Vertica Capital Partners on its acquisition of Rezdy, an online travel booking software platform. The acquisition of Rezdy was done concurrently with the acquisitions of Checkfront (US) and Regiondo (Germany) (2023).
Acting for Fireblocks (a platform that protects digital assets in transit) on the acquisition of BlockFold, a Melbourne-based start-up that helps financial institutions build blockchain-based systems (2023).
Acting for Advent on its acquisition of a majority stake in the Australian luxury fashion brand ZIMMERMANN, which operates retail stores in Australia, the US, UK, Europe and China, as well as being represented in prestigious department stores and luxury retailers worldwide (2023).
Acting for Veeam Software (an Insight portfolio company) on its acquisition of Cirrus, a SaaS backup solution for cloud workloads, allowing users to send backups to external storage repositories currently managed by Microsoft Azure (2023).
Acting for Zone & Co (an Insight portfolio company) in relation to its acquisition of Infinet Cloud, a NetSuite partner specialising in international Payroll & Employee Centric solutions (2023).
Acting in relation to its divestment of BMX Holdco (Biomedx), a leading global provider of fertility products that automate and standardize lab workflow for IVF clinics (2023).
Acting for the sellers on the acquisition by Close the Loop Inc (ASX:CLG) of ISP Tek Services and Captive Trade, two U.S.-based electronics refurbishing and trading companies (2023).
Acting for its portfolio company, Z Software, in the acquisition of Medi-Map, a medication management software company (2023).
Acting for Potentia in relation to its take-private acquisition of Nitro Software (ASX:NTO), a document productivity software company, in an on–market takeover (2023).
Acting for HumanForce, an Accel-KKR portfolio company, on its acquisition of IntelliHRLimited (ASX:IHR), an HR software platform, by way of scheme of arrangement and subsequently by way of a contested takeover bid (2023).
Acting for Alpine Software Group, a portfolio company of Alpine Investors, on its acquisition of OSINT Combine and NexusXplore (2023).
Acting for Acclivis in relation to its acquisition of Zed Technologies, a cloud-based radiology software business (2022).
Acting for Actionstep, a cloud-based legal practice management platform, and portfolio company of Serent, on its acquisition of legal software business, LawMaster (2022).
Acting in relation to its divestment of Micromine, a mining technology company (2022).
Acting in relation to its acquisitions of IVF providers, Adora Fertility (2022) and Genea (2022).
Acting for Qantas Airways Limited (ASX:QAN) in its proposed merger with Alliance Services Limited (ASX:AQZ) by way of a scheme of arrangement (2022).
Acting for Quantum Health Group Limited (ASX:QTM) in its merger with Paragon Care Limited (ASX:PGC) by way of a scheme of arrangement (2022).
Acting for Vector Capital Management and its portfolio company MoxiWorks on its acquisition of ActivePipe, a real estate tech offering providing email and marketing automation solutions (2022).
Acting for Lacima, which provides technology solutions for trading and risk management in energy and commodities markets trading businesses, on its sale to the European Energy Exchange (EEX), which is part of the Deutsche Börse (2022).
Acting for Level Equity in its acquisition of SaaS anti-fraud payment protection technology company eftSure (2021).
Acting for GumGum in relation to its acquisition of attention intelligence platform Playground XYZ (2021).
Acting for Spotify in its acquisition of podcast tech platform Whooshkaa (2021).
Acting in relation to its acquisition of Z Software (2021).
Acting in relation to its acquisition of Baby Village (2021).
Acting in relation to its acquisition of SKUvantage (2021).
Acting in relation to its acquisition of Potential(x) (2021).
Acting in relation to its acquisition of SuperChoice Services (2021).
Acting in relation to its acquisition of Data Republic (2021).
Acting in relation to a series of acquisitions in Australia (2021).
Acting for Playboy in relation to its acquisition of Honey Birdette (2021).
Acting in relation to its acquisition of NewBook (2021).
Acting in relation to its portfolio acquisitions by Micromine of Precision Mining (2021) and Alastri Holdings (2021).
Acting in relation to its portfolio acquisition by Incentive Solutions of OneAffiniti (2021).
Acting in relation to its portfolio acquisitions by Seisma of Smart Apps (2021), coIB (2021) and Braestone (2021).
Acting in relation to its portfolio acquisition by Lineage Logistics of Emergent Cold (2020).
Acting in relation to its acquisition of Commerce Vision (2021).
Acting in relation to its investment in the Bain Capital consortium for Virgin Australia (2020).
Acting in relation to its partial divestment of illion (2020).
Acting in relation to its acquisition of Melbourne IT Consulting (2020).
Acting in relation to its portfolio acquisition of Premier Technologies, a payments solution (2020).
Acting in relation to its acquisition of Kumo Holdings (2020).
Acting in relation to its proposed acquisition of FunLab (2020).
Advised on all corporate aspects of Potentia’s acquisition of 100% of PC-EFTPOS (2019).
Acting in relation to its acquisition of HotSchedules (formerly RedBook) (2019).
Acting in relation to its divestment of LCR Group to Qube (2019).
Acting in relation to its divestment of Marlin Brands (2019).
Advising on its acquisition of Micromine (2018).
Advising on its PIPE into Afterpay (ASX:APT) (2018).
Advising on its acquisition of Serraview Holdings (2018).
Advising on its acquisition of Pharmaceutical Packaging (2018).
Acting in relation to its divestment of AeroCare to Swissport (2018).
Acted in its investment in clean energy start-up, H2Lab (2023).
Acting for Potentia in relation to its investment in Soprano Design, a communications platform as a service (CPaaS) operator (2023).
Acting for General Catalyst Partners in its Series A investment into Carma (2022).
Acting for Protecht, a risk management software company, in relation to its Series A financing from Arrowroot Capital (2022).
Acting in relation to its investment in EstimateOne, a construction tech company (2021).
Acting in relation to its investment in Practice Ignition (2021).
Acting in relation to its investment in Automic Group (2021).
Acting in relation to their investment in Stakeshop (2021).
Acting in relation to its investment in SafetyCulture (2021).
Acting in relation to its investment in Octopus Deploy (2021).
Acting in relation to its investment in Employment Hero (2021).
Acting in relation to its investment in Persuit (2021).
Acting on its portfolio divestment of Airtasker (2021).
Acting in relation to its investment in Linktree (2020).
Acting in relation to its investment in Buildkite (2020).
Acting on its portfolio investments in Health Engine (2020).
Advised on series B funding round of financing (2021).
Acting in relation to its investment in Canary (2020).
Advising on its seed investment in Dovetail (2020).
Acting in relation to its investment in Sunman energy (2020).
Advising on its Series B investment in Kasada (2020).
Advised on its Series B investment of Linktree (2020).
Advising on its Series A investment in Pegasus Management (2020).
Acting in relation to its investment in Pharmamark (2019).
Advising on its US-redomicile and seed financing (2019).
Acting in relation to on its Series B financing (2018).
Advising on the Initial Closing of its US$50 million Series C round of financing (2018).
Advising on on its Series A fundraising (2018).
Advising on its series A investment in Humanforce, a workplace management solution (2018).
Advising on their series C investment in Deputy Group (2018).
Advising on its investment by Peakspan Capital (2018).
Advising on its seed investment in Popgun Labs (2018).
Advising on their investment in EBR Systems (2017).
Acting for EBR on its IPO and ASX-listing (2021).
Acting for Laybuy Limited on its pre-IPO and IPO and ASX-listing (2020).
Acting for Imricor Medical Systems on its IPO and ASX-listing (2019).
Acting on its IPO and ASX-listing (2017).
Acting on its proposed IPO and ASX-listing (2017).
Acting for AirXpanders on its IPO and ASX-listing (2015).
Acting for AXP on its follow-on placement (2016, 2017, 2018).
In its PIPE investments in Acrux (ASX:ACR) (2020) and Cynata Therapeutics (ASX:CYP) (2020).
Acting for BSA on its placement (2014).
Acting for EWC on various follow-on offerings including note issues and placements (2015).
Acting for HXL on its follow-on placement (2021).
Acting for IPD on various follow-on offerings, including rights issues and placements (2014, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2021).
Acting for IMR on various follow-on offerings, including rights issues and placements (2020, 2021).
In its PIPE investment in Afterpay (ASX:APT) (2017).
Acting for OSP on numerous follow-on offerings, including rights issues and placements (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021).
On and numerous fundraisings in Australia and the US.
Acting for SQM on its PIPE investment into Elemental Minerals Limited (ASX:ELM) (2016).
On its listing and fundraisings and numerous fundraisings in Australia and the US.
Acting for VTI on numerous follow-on offerings, including convertible notes, rights issues and placements (2018, 2019, 2020, 2021).
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There are a number of associated issues and uncertainties regarding a new exemption certificate for business acquisitions by foreign investors (Business EC).
In February 2017, the Australian Government released a consultation paper titled ‘Increasing Transparency of the Beneficial Ownership of Companies’ (Consultation Paper) to explore the potential to...