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Overview

Freehills is consistently ranked as one of the leading legal advisers in the area of mergers and acquisitions (M&A).

In recent years Freehills has been at the forefront of practice in the takeovers field, particularly in relation to hostile acquisitions, where we have undertaken a number of complex and high profile transactions.

By pioneering developments such as two-tiered bids, pre-acceptance agreements, lock-outs and break fees, we have assisted many leading corporations in achieving their commercial objectives.

League Tables

The most recent Thomson Financial M&A League Tables show that Freehills has repeated its performance of 2004, 2005 and 2006 with a clean sweep of the completed tables for 2007. Since the inception of the Thomson tables in 1997, Freehills has acted on more Australian M&A deals than any other law firm.

In 2007: 

Legal Guides

Freehills' M&A team was also given the highest possible ranking in the latest editions of Chambers Global Guide, Best Lawyers International Australian Edition, Asia Pacific Legal 500 and PLC Which Lawyer?

According to Chambers Global Guide: the World's Leading Lawyers (2008), “clients rave about [Freehills] lawyers: “They exhibit a genuine interest and nuanced understanding of our business, and are great allies in the realisation of our objectives.” The team is also said to “collaborate effectively and consistently provide outstanding legal advice” on a range of top-end private equity and M&A deals, with a particular forte in energy-related transactions. Powerful national companies frequently turn to the firm for its “extraordinary depth of intellect and experience.”

According to Australasian Legal Business 2007, 'Freehills dominates the legal services market in the Asia Pacific region when it comes to M&A.'

Best Lawyers International 2008, in their inaugural edition, have ranked Freehills’ M&A team #1 in Australia, with the most number of lawyers mentioned.

Awards

These leading benchmarking publication results, together with our INSTO Distinction Awards 2006 Law Firm of the Year 2007, Chambers Global Awards 2007 Australian Law Firm of the Year , M&A Law Firm of the Year accolade at the 2006 Australian Law Awards, our CFO Magazine 2006 Corporate Law Firm of the Year award, and our INSTO 2004 Law Firm of the Year award demonstrate Freehills' ability to consistently deliver outstanding outcomes for our clients.