Melbourne, 8 July 2014: Clayton Utz has acted for ASX-listed Ridley Corporation (Ridley) on its entry into a joint venture (JV) agreement with Sanctuary Living for the potential development of Ridley's 465 hectare salt field site located at Moolap, near Geelong, into a world-class mixed residential and commercial project. The agreement was signed on 11 June.
The Moolap site is the first of Ridley's dormant salt field sites it has announced it proposes to develop. Sanctuary Living is an Australian developer of master planned communities, including the Sanctuary Lakes Resort and Sandhurst Club projects in Melbourne.
Clayton Utz corporate partner Michael Linehan, a long-time adviser to Ridley, led the firm's team, which included senior associates Quentin Reidy, Alison Kennedy, Caroline Van Grieken and Simon Bowden, and lawyer Angela Manolakos.
The transaction was negotiated and agreed over a nine-month timeframe. The Clayton Utz team provided strategic advice on the structuring, drafting and negotiation of a range of complex contractual documentation included a conditional land sale contract, a unit trust deed and unitholders agreement, a rezoning agreement, a development agreement and a development management agreement.
Led by Michael Linehan, Clayton Utz has advised Ridley on a series of strategically significant corporate transactions for the business. These include Ridley's sale of Cheetham Salt Limited to Hong Kong based CK Life Sciences Int'l, (Holdings) Inc., and its $77 million acquisition of BPL Melbourne, Victoria's leading renderer of poultry and mammalian waste products, in 2012.
Commenting on the transaction, Michael said: "Our multidisciplinary team enjoyed the opportunity to work collaboratively and bring their specialist skills to support Ridley to conclude the JV agreement with Sanctuary Living for what will be a landmark project for Geelong and the greater Melbourne area."
Ridley is Australia's leading provider of high performance animal nutrition solutions and value-added solar salt.