Michael Dearden

Michael is a dual Australian and UK-qualified corporate lawyer with over 15 years' experience advising a wide range of clients on the full suite of corporate transactions and matters. These include significant, high-profile and complex domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions, investments, joint ventures, capital raisings, infrastructure, energy and renewables projects, privatisations, financings, restructures, commercial contracting, company law compliance and corporate governance.

Experience

Michael advises clients on all aspects of their businesses and corporate transactions and matters. He is well-regarded for his excellent technical and problem-solving skills, commerciality, and pragmatic approach to the matters on which he advises.

Michael has extensive experience advising domestic and international clients across a breadth of industry sectors, including energy and renewables, infrastructure, financial services, real estate, technology, telecommunications, manufacturing, retail and healthcare.

His clients include leading Australian and international corporations, private equity, private capital and venture capital investors, investment funds and consortia, fund and asset managers, financial institutions and sponsors, founders, and governmental and public sector bodies.

Prior to joining Lander & Rogers, Michael was a senior corporate lawyer at leading law firms in Australia and the United Kingdom.

Michael's areas of expertise include:

• mergers and acquisitions
• capital raisings
• corporate restructures
• joint ventures and shareholders agreements/arrangements
• setting up businesses in Australia
• infrastructure and energy/renewables
• government and privatisation
• commercial contracts.

Career highlights

Michael's career highlights include:

• advising Woolworths on the merger of its Endeavour Drinks business with ALH Group to form the Endeavour Group integrated drinks and hospitality business and the demerger and listing of Endeavour Group with a $10.8 billion market capitalisation
• advising leading fintech Lendi on a number of transactions, including its $1 billion merger with CBA's Aussie Home Loans to create Lendi Group, Australia's largest retail mortgage broker (with a loan book in excess of $80 billion) and a home loans joint venture with Domain Group
• advising a Bain Capital and Deutsche Bank consortium on its acquisition of GE's ANZ commercial finance lending business and associated financing transactions for $2 billion
• advising a KKR, Värde Partners and Deutsche Bank consortium on its acquisition of GE's consumer finance business (now Latitude Financial Services) for $8.2 billion
• advising infrastructure investor Morrison & Co on its acquisition of a 50% interest in Pact Group's crate pooling business with an enterprise value of A$380 million and its associated financing and equity funding, JV and strategic partnership arrangements
• advising international renewable energy developer RES on its joint venture with Origin Energy for the development, construction and operation of offshore wind energy projects
• advising Ingka Investments, the investment arm of IKEA Group, on its equity investment and joint venture with Tag Energy for the development, construction and operation of the Golden Plains onshore wind energy project
• advising infrastructure operator Quantem on its A$333 million acquisition of GrainCorp's liquid terminals business and its associated commercial contracting arrangements
• advising nib Holdings Limited on its acquisition of insurer Grand United Corporate Health Limited from Australian Unity Limited for $155.5 million and its associated capital raising
• advising Remsoft, a Canada-based portfolio company owned by US private equity firm Banneker Partners, on its strategic acquisition of LOGR Pty Ltd and Enabled Solutions Pty Ltd (LOGR), a SaaS business operating in the forestry sector, recognised for its innovative real time data capture and multi-party operational analytics platform
• advising Bailador, a growth capital fund, on various investments into Dash Technology Group, a cloud-based financial advice and investment management platform
• advising the NSW Government on its A$3 billion energy reform program involving the sale of generation assets, including those of Macquarie Generation and Delta Electricity, including on the A$234 million acquisition of the Colongra power station by Snowy Hydro
• advising Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan on its acquisition of a majority stake in telecoms networks, data centre and cloud services provider, Nextgen Group at an $885 million valuation
• advising Valeant Pharmaceuticals on its $625+ million acquisition of the iNova Pharmaceuticals Group.