Fighting fit in 2003

Key Points:
Following a huge year for our M&A team, we'd just like to say thanks.

Our Mergers & Acquisitions team went from strength to strength in 2003.

A consistent flow of leading roles across our national offices coupled with our involvement on 4 of the year's top 10 deals and almost half of the year's top 15 deals saw us ranked strongly on the Thomson Financial Mergers and Acquisitions Legal Advisor League Tables.

The firm ranked second in number, and third in value, of announced and completed M&A deals with any Australian or New Zealand involvement. Even more impressive, the firm ranked first in value of announced deals involving an Australian or New Zealand target and announced deals involving an Asia-Pacific target.

We are delighted with our success and proud to have the strength of our national team endorsed by so many of Australia's most respected companies and financial institutions.

We thank you for supporting Clayton Utz in 2003 and we look forward to helping you achieve your goals in the coming years.

M&A highlights of 2003

• Advising Constellation Brands on its A$2.472 billion acquisition of BRL Hardy to create the world’s largest wine business by volume
• Acting for UNiTAB on its proposed A$2.4 billion takeover of TAB Limited
• Acting for Boral in its A$840 million off-market takeover offer for Adelaide Brighton
• Acting for BankWest on the A$1.05 billion takeover by HBOS plc.
• Acting for Brickworks on its successful takeover of Bristile (estimated at A$458 million)
• Acting for Mayne Group on the A$813 million sale of its Australian and Indonesian private hospitals
• Advising Queensland Cement on its merger with Australian Cement Holdings to create Australia's largest cement producer
• Advising Morgan Stanley and Citigroup as underwriters of ANZ's A$3.6 billion rights issue in conjunction with its acquisition of National Bank of New Zealand.