Geoff Hoffman
Clayton Utz
Chief Legal Officer
Sydney
Commercially astute. He is an efficient negotiator who keeps his eye on the prize.
Overview
More than 20 years' experience, advising clients on corporate and commercial matters, including mergers and acquisitions, equity fund raising, joint ventures, general corporate advice and ASX rules compliance.
Geoff is appreciated by his clients for his breadth of knowledge and commercial acumen.
Notable Work
- Woolworths Group Limited (Woolworths): Advised on
- the sale of its 540 fuel convenience sites to EG Group for A$1.725 billion. As part of the transaction, Woolworths Group and EG Group entered into a 15 year commercial alliance covering fuel discount redemption, loyalty and wholesale product supply.
- its investments in and joint venture with data analytics company Quantium. As part of the transaction Quantium was given access to Woolworths de-identified customer data, including from its Everyday Rewards customer loyalty program.
- its A$340 million acquisition of Cellarmasters Wines from Archer Capital.
- its acquisition of a 65% interest in PFD Food Services and a portfolio of freehold properties for A$552 million.
- Suntory: Advised on its sale of Cerebos Food & Instant Coffee (in Australia and New Zealand) and Asian Home Gourmet Singapore business to Kraft-Heinz for $290m, and the sale of Suntory Coffee Australia Limited to UCC for $158.4m.
- Singtel Optus: Advised Singtel Optus on:
- its purchase of amaysim's mobile business for A$250 million
- the sale of its mobile phone and tablet insurance service business to US-based tech repairs and device insurance company Likewize for $200 million
- its acquisition of IT professional and managed services company Ensyst.
- Structured Investment Products: Advised issuers of ASX-listed warrants, equity derivatives, stock lending and loan products for clients including the Commonwealth Bank, Macquarie Bank, Credit Suisse and UBS, and the Australian Stock Lending Association (ASLA).
- Global investors: Advised in relation to Australian foreign investment laws for clients including Singtel, BlackRock, London Stock Exchange Group, Japan Industrial Partners and CDPQ.
- NSW Government: Advised on its cornerstone investment in Australia's first hardware quantum computing company, Silicon Quantum Computing. Silicon Quantum Computing is an $83 million joint venture spun out of the University of New South Wales, with investments from the NSW government, Telstra, the Commonwealth Bank and the federal government.
- nbn co limited: Advised on the rollout of the national broadband network, including advising on its agreements with Telstra, Optus, TPG, Vocus and other carriers for the supply of wholesale broadband services.
- Roche: Advised on its investment in PrOSPeCT, a public-private partnership to expand access to comprehensive genomic profiling for cancer patients and enable clinical trial access. PrOSPeCT is a $185 million project funded by the Australian Government, together with investments from Roche Australia, NCI (the National Computational Infrastructure at ANU) and the Children's Cancer Institute Australia (CCIA).
- 21st Century Fox: Advised on the global merger of Shine Group with Endemol and Core Media, to create a combined producer of unscripted media content including "American Idol", "The Biggest Loser" and "Big Brother" valued at more than $2 billion.
- ING Group: Advised on its sale to UBS of ING Investment Management Australia, one of the largest active investment managers in Australia, with more than $34 billion in assets under management.
Insights
Mandatory climate-related financial reporting to commence in 2025
17 Sep 2024 | Article
Read Insights
Australian Government responds to independent review of continuous disclosure laws by adopting its recommendations
20 Aug 2024 | Article
Read Insights
Draft legislation released for mandatory climate reporting framework
23 Jan 2024 | Article
Read Insights
Replumbing financial markets for a sustainable future: the Government's Sustainable Finance Strategy Consultation Paper
17 Nov 2023 | Article
Read Insights
Mandatory climate reporting – second consultation period underway to shape the final regime
7 Jul 2023 | Article
Read Insights
New global Sustainability and Climate-related Disclosure Standards: how they will affect Australian businesses
7 Jul 2023 | Article
Read Insights
New Register of Foreign Ownership of Australian Assets commences on 1 July
30 Jun 2023 | Article
Read Insights
United Kingdom investors subject to higher foreign investment monetary threshold from 31 May 2023 for certain investments
13 Jun 2023 | Article
Read Insights
Mandatory climate-related financial disclosure: current developments in Australia, the UK and EU
1 May 2023 | Video
Read Insights
New Register of Foreign Ownership of Australian Assets to commence from 1 July 2023
22 Mar 2023 | Article
Read Insights
FIRB application fees will double from 29 July: what you need to know
25 Jul 2022 | Article
Read Insights
Media Release: Clayton Utz advises Woolworths on acquisition of Shopper Media Group
19 Jul 2022 | Media Release
Read Insights
Foreign investment threshold reduced to 10% for expanded list of Australian businesses deemed to be "critical"
3 Feb 2022 | Article
Read Insights
Media Release: Clayton Utz a winner at 2021 ACOMM Awards for services to telecommunications industry
22 Nov 2021 | Media Release
Read Insights
Long-awaited certainty as Parliament permits virtual general meetings
16 Aug 2021 | Article
Read Insights
Significant reforms to the Australian continuous disclosure regime are now law: A guide for listed entities and their officers
16 Aug 2021 | Article
Read Insights
Media Release: Clayton Utz advises Woolworths on strategic acquisition of majority stake in Quantium
7 May 2021 | Media Release
Read Insights
Significant Australian foreign investment reforms commencing 1 January 2021
11 Dec 2020 | Article
Read Insights
COVID-19 temporary changes to continuous disclosure provisions for listed entities
27 May 2020 | Article
Read Insights
High Court confirms influence, not job title, the key to Corporations Act liability as director or officer
1 Apr 2020 | Article
Read Insights
Changes to foreign investment review in Australia under temporary COVID-19 measures
30 Mar 2020 | Article
Read Insights
Media Release: Clayton Utz has a hand in successful makeover of Napoleon Perdis Cosmetics
15 May 2019 | Media Release
Read Insights
Financial Services Royal Commission part 6 - Competition in home lending
25 Feb 2019 | Document
Read Insights
Financial Services Royal Commission part 5 - A new regulatory frontier – APRA's approach to supervision and enforcement in a post-Royal Commission environment
21 Feb 2019 | Document
Read Insights
The impact of the Critical Infrastructure Centre on infrastructure investors
27 Sep 2018 | Article
Read Insights
New interception and access powers to encrypted communications and devices to affect carriers and device manufacturers
14 Aug 2018 | Article
Read Insights
Not navigating the technicalities of the on-sale prohibitions lands ASX-listed companies in court
2 Aug 2018 | Article
Read Insights
ASIC v Godfrey: another cautionary tale about the financial literacy required of directors
12 Apr 2018 | Article
Read Insights
Changes to corporate governance in banking groups: impacts of the Banking Executive Accountability Regime (BEAR)
26 Oct 2017 | Article
Read Insights
Major changes on the way for Australian banking and financial services sector in the Federal Budget
10 May 2017 | Article
Read Insights
Crowd-sourced funding starts in six months – and here's how you get ready for it
22 Mar 2017 | Article
Read Insights
Find other people to support you
Find People