Chapman Tripp Advises Infratil on Vodafone Deal

Chapman Tripp Advises Infratil on Vodafone Deal And Capital Raising

20 May 2019

Chapman Tripp advised Infratil on the $3.4b acquisition of Vodafone New Zealand and $400m capital raising.

The firm advised Infratil on the consortium it formed with Canadian investment firm Brookfield Asset Management to buy the New Zealand arm of the telecoms giant. The Chapman Tripp team, led by partners Josh Blackmore and Geof Shirtcliffe, also advised Infratil on the equity capital raising used to partially fund the deal.

Kellee Clark, Head of Legal for Infratil’s Asset Manager Morrison & Co, said, “Infratil appreciated the technical expertise and dedication of the Chapman Tripp team on a complex project which was achieved under significant time pressure.”

Infratil has announced that it will raise $400m via a fully underwritten NZ$100m institutional placement and a fully underwritten NZ$300m, 1 for 7.46 pro-rata accelerated renounceable entitlement offer (AERO).

The accelerated rights entitlement offer (AREO) structure is increasingly popular in major deals in Australasian capital markets, where institutional participation is critical. Ongoing refinements to the NZX Listing Rules have created more flexible ways of structuring these accelerated offers.

Blackmore said, “We are delighted to have assisted Infratil with such a significant deal on both the Vodafone consortium and shareholder arrangements and associated capital raising.

“Chapman Tripp’s role demonstrates that the firm continues to be the advisers of choice for high end capital markets work. We have advised on more than 90% of the rights issues, placements and convertible issues over $5m in value that have taken place since 2017.”

Chapman Tripp finance partner Emma Sutcliffe, and solicitors Tony Davis, Julia Carrington and Tory Hansen also assisted in the Infratil deal.

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