Jennifer Coote

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Jennifer is an experienced corporate transactions lawyer. In particular, she advises on private mergers and acquisitions, joint venture arrangements and equity capital raisings.

Jennifer is a partner in Bell Gully’s market-leading corporate team. She advises corporates, private equity and sovereign wealth funds on both the buy and sell sides. Jennifer advises on transactions in a variety of industries including financial services, consumer products, manufacturing and industrial, technology and telecommunications.

Recent work highlights include advising Ampol on its acquisition of Z Energy for NZ$1.96 billion and Vodafone New Zealand on the sale of its tower business for NZ$1.7 billion.

Jennifer is focused on assisting clients with delivering complex transactions in a timely manner and providing commercially focused and pragmatic advice. Jennifer is ranked as a ‘Rising star partner’ in the ILFR1000 2023 for corporate and M&A work, and a ‘Next Generation Partner’ in The Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2024 and is described as “fiercely intelligent but also commercial”.

Jennifer recently authored Wolters Kluwer’s Corporate Acquisitions and Mergers publication for New Zealand. Jennifer’s comprehensive review covers the laws relevant to anyone considering M&A activity in New Zealand.

Jennifer returned to Bell Gully in 2015 after four and a half years working in the corporate team of the London office of Herbert Smith Freehills. During Jennifer's time in London, she worked on a number of complex cross-border acquisitions and joint ventures.

Work highlights

Private M&A

Ampol’s acquisition of Z Energy and sale of Gull
Advised Ampol on its $1.96 billion acquisition of Z Energy by way of court approved scheme of arrangement together with its divestment of its Gull business to Allegro. This involved both a complex Overseas Investment Act approval, together with obtaining a Commerce Commission clearance, which was supported by a divestment undertaking in relation to Ampol’s Gull business.

Vodafone New Zealand TowerCo sale
Advising Vodafone New Zealand on the sale of its passive mobile tower infrastructure assets for NZ$1.7 billion to funds managed or advised by InfraRed Capital Partners (on behalf of HICL Infrastructure plc) and Northleaf Capital Partners, alongside a reinvestment by Infratil.

Bentley Systems acquisition of Seequent
Advising Bentley Systems, Incorporated, the leading NASDAQ-listed infrastructure engineering software company, on the proposed acquisition of Seequent, a world leader in developing 3D geological modelling software, headquartered in Christchurch, for US$1.05 billion.

Fletcher Building divestments
Advised Fletcher Building on the sale of the Formica Group to Broadview for US$840 million (NZ$1.2 billion), international roofing products manufacturer Roof Tile Group to Canadian roofing company IKO for approximately NZ$60 million, and its 50 per cent stake in the Sims Pacific Metals joint venture to Sims Metals Management

Sale of Vodafone NZ
Advised Vodafone Group Plc on its sale of Vodafone NZ to a consortium of Infratil and Brookfield Asset Management for NZ$3.4 billion. This transaction won New Zealand Deal of the Year, as well as M&A Deal of the Year, at the 2020 New Zealand Law Awards, and M&A Transaction of the Year at the 2020 INFINZ Awards.

Nippon Paper acquisition of Orora's fibre business
Advised Nippon Paper, as part of an integrated team with Herbert Smith Freehills, on its acquisition of Orora's Fibre business in Australia and NZ for AU$1.7 billion.

Nuplex takeover
Advised Nuplex Industries on its acquisition by Allnex by way of scheme of arrangement. The billion-dollar transaction is the largest completed takeover involving a New Zealand target company in a decade and was the first large takeover to be implemented by way of scheme of arrangement under the new regime for schemes, which came into force in 2014. This transaction won the New Zealand Deal of the Year, as well as M&A Deal of the Year, at the 2017 New Zealand Law Awards.

Acquisition of Kiwibank
Advised Guardians of New Zealand Superannuation and Accident Compensation Corporation on their acquisition of 47% of Kiwi Group Holdings, the holding company for the Kiwibank group of financial services entities, for NZ$494 million.

Acquisition of Higgins Group
Advised Fletcher Building on the NZ$305 million acquisition of Higgins construction company.

Sale of Fisher & Paykel Finance
Advised Fisher & Paykel Appliances Holdings on its sale of Fisher & Paykel Finance Holdings for NZ$315 million.

Private equity

Acquisition of Mainland Poultry
Advised Navis Capital on its acquisition of a majority stake in Mainland Poultry.

Acquisition of OfficeMax and Staples
Advised Platinum Equity on its acquisitions of business products suppliers OfficeMax from Office Depot and Staples Australasia from Staples Inc.

Contact Jennifer

Work highlights

Private M&A

Private equity

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