19 July 2005
Melbourne, 19 July 2005: The equity capital markets team at national law firm Clayton Utz has capped off a stunning six months with its role as lead adviser to Tattersall's on its recent record $2.17 billion IPO and listing on the ASX last week.
Tattersall's, a leading Australian and international provider of gaming based entertainment products and services and until listing, one of the country's largest private companies, engaged Clayton Utz in April 2004 to act as its advisers on its historic float.
Since then, the firm's team, led by Melbourne partners Penny Grau and Charles Rosedale, have worked with Tattersall's in-house legal team to bring the gaming group to market.
"Advising on a float of this size and involving one of Australia's oldest and best-known private companies involved many challenges," said Ms Grau. "In particular, there were a number of stakeholders with differing interests and a simultaneous restructure which impacted the float process. The float process was more complex than usual as it needed to meet and deal with these unique aspects. Once a clear timetable was established the Clayton Utz team worked tirelessly with all parties to ensure the float occurred smoothly.
"We are pleased to have been able to assist Tattersall's in what is truly a momentous occasion in the company's history."
In addition to Ms Grau and Mr Rosedale, the Clayton Utz team included Tony Rein (Clayton Utz's Gaming specialist), Brendan Groves and Alison Groves. The team's advice to Tattersall's was broad-ranging, involving setting up appropriate processes to ensure the relevant prospectus liability defences were available (including ensuring minimal duplication of work undertaken for the restructure which occurred simultaneously), undertaking legal due diligence, advising Tattersall's in respect of establishing certain aspects of its corporate governance procedures, assisting in preparing the Prospectus, involvement in the verification process and working closely with Tattersall's, the Lead Manager (Goldman Sachs JBWere Pty Ltd) and co-Lead Manager (Macquarie Equity Capital Markets Limited) in respect of all other float related aspects to ensure the successful listing.
Tattersall's was founded in 1881 by George Adams. Upon listing, it entered the ranks of Australia's top 100 listed companies by market capitalisation.
The Tattersall's IPO caps off a busy six months for the ECM practice at Clayton Utz. Led by practice head Greg James, the group has also advised on the second largest float this year after Tattersall's, the A$1 billion Macquarie Capital Alliance IPO announced in February (as advisers to the Joint Lead Managers).
The ECM team has also acted on the two largest rights issues to date in Australia this year, Macquarie CountryWide Trust's A$843 million RAPIDS style rights issue and placement and Origin Energy's A$641 million (approximately) renounceable rights issue.
Ms Grau expects the IPO market to remain strong over the next six months particularly for businesses with proven earnings records. "We now have the most significant recent IPO experience and have been fortunate to be involved in a level of detail in respect of the Tattersall's listing not usually experienced by lawyers. This will stand us in good stead for the second half of the year."
