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Thought Leadership

Ahead of the Deal

Australian M&A Briefing

Welcome to "Ahead of the Deal", our monthly Australian M&A briefing

Each month we explore the latest news and developments in M&A and Australian corporate law to keep you up-to-date. Visit our Corporate and M&A page for more information about how we can help, and our Ahead of the Deal Vodcast page for more insight and perspectives.

Subscribe to keep up to date with the latest Australian M&A insights from the Ashurst team.

Articles

Steel columns against a blue sky image used in Ahead of the Deal Briefing series.

Treasury ruffles feathers with proposed expansion of the Australian foreign resident CGT regime

Sanjay Wavde and Steve Whittington from the Ashurst tax team unpack the key elements and potential impacts of proposed changes to Australia's foreign resident CGT regime, which include an expansion of the scope of assets that fall within the regime and controversial retrospective elements.

Executive writing notes on table used in Inside the Magellan-Barrenjoey deal M and A article

Structure unlocks speed: Inside the Magellan-Barrenjoey deal

Bruce Macdonald and Bonnie Paton examine the Magellan-Barrenjoey merger, and how it demonstrates that the right structure for the right deal can ensure a fast, simple and efficient transaction process.

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The long and short of it: ASIC consults on disclosure rules for derivative positions

Ben Stewart and Andrew Kim highlight what substantial shareholders, banks, bidders and other market participants need to know about the key changes to the substantial holding regime flagged in ASIC's recent consultation paper, including practical challenges around calculating and reporting derivatives positions.

Spotlight on Sussanah Macknay in the Ahead of the Deal M&A Briefing

Spotlight on Susannah Macknay – What's driving the dealmakers?

We chat with Susannah Macknay, a partner in our Melbourne corporate transactions team, about trends we're seeing in who's driving deals and sources of M&A capital.

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Hitting new peaks: recent developments in schemes of arrangement

Tony Damian, Amelia Morgan and Cameron Sivwright look at recent developments in schemes of arrangement, including the Takeovers Panel's increasingly active role in schemes, recent court decisions and ASIC's continued focus on independent experts.

Multiple clocks set up against a grey background

Tick tock: the price of delay – escalating ticking fees

Andrew Kim and Miao Qun Unsworth-Tang examine how the once-niche deal mechanic of ticking fees is increasingly being used to address value erosion due to extended regulatory approval timetables.

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Japanese M&A in Australia: accelerating business transformation as the world hurtles towards an uncertain future

Natsuko Ogawa, Shojeeb Alam, Phoebe Phan and Janet Chhean explore the trends in Japanese inbound M&A in Australia following strong activity in 2025, and what we can expect in 2026.

Nathan Deveson

Spotlight on Nathan Deveson - Ashurst's newest tax guru

We chat with Nathan Deveson, widely recognised as one of Australia’s foremost authorities in State taxes, who recently joined Ashurst as a senior partner in our Tax practice.

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Derivatives disclosure D-Day – getting ahead of the new regime

Andrew Kim and Jonathan Chapman consider the new statutory regime that will apply to disclosure of Australian equity derivatives from December, and how bidders, advisers and writers of derivatives should prepare.

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Read the room at the Panel: costs are squarely on the table

Tony Damian and Cameron Sivwright examine how the Panel's recent decision in relation to Emu NL and proposed revisions to its guidance note on remedies signal a stronger stance on costs orders and conduct by parties to Panel proceedings.

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What you don't know can hurt you: targeted control assessments in due diligence

Gwladys Ngo Tedga Yagla from the Ashurst Risk Advisory team explains how embedding risk control assessments in M&A due diligence processes can help minimise potential risk exposure, integration headaches and costly post-deal surprises.

Spotlight on Amelia Morgan part of the Ahead of the Deal M&A Briefing article series.

Spotlight on Amelia Morgan – taking it to the next level at Ashurst

We're excited to welcome Amelia Morgan, an experienced adviser on public and private M&A matters and one of Lawyer's Weekly's inaugural top 10 M&A Dealmakers 2025, who recently joined the Ashurst corporate transactions team in Sydney.

A long hallway lined with rows of servers, showcasing a modern data center environment.

Power plays: plugging into data centre deals

Rebecca Cope, Alexandra Peace, Phil Breden, Andrew Hilton and Jasmin Lestelin delve into what's driving data centre M&A and investment activity, and the key diligence, regulatory and contractual considerations for those doing deals in the sector.

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From handshake to headache – why 'preliminary' agreements can make or break your deal

Anita Choi considers two recent cases that illustrate the risks that can arise from heads of agreement and term sheets, and the importance of consistency between documentation and action.

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Carrots and sticks: the next wave of Australia's foreign investment reform

Tony Damian and Anita Choi examine the important carrots and generally reasonable sticks outlined in the Treasury's recently released Discussion Paper on proposed major reforms to Australia's foreign investment framework (submissions are due 12 December 2025).

Spotlight on Ratha Nabanidham

Spotlight on Ratha Nabanidham – good as gold in Brisbane

We chat with Ratha Nabanidham, who leads Ashurst's Brisbane Corporate Transactions team, about Harmony Gold's recently completed $1.58 billion acquisition of MAC Copper and how Queensland's new energy roadmap is driving deal activity and investment.

Gold coins and various graphs displayed on a world map

Public and private markets: ASIC’s roadmap for Australia’s capital markets

In this special edition of Ahead of the Deal, Stuart Dullard, Andrew Kim, Patricia Paton and Miriam Kleiner look at ASIC's recently released report “Advancing Australia’s evolving capital markets: Discussion paper response report”. The Report sets out ASIC’s proposed improvements to facilitate public markets and ways to introduce greater transparency and accountability in private markets.

Wait AZEK – is this too much change?

Tony Damian, Sharon Liu and Josh Hanegbi examine the ASX's new consultation paper seeking feedback on proposals involving changing and introducing shareholder approval requirements – including for bidder share issuances in public M&A deals – in the wake of James Hardie's acquisition of AZEK and the proposed merger between Seven West Media and Southern Cross Media.

Control issues: insights from the Takeovers Panel's 2024-25 Annual Report

Eliza Blandford, Brooke Coghlan and John Sartori distil the key findings in and insights from the Takeover Panel's newly released annual report, including the main issues raised in Panel applications and potential changes to Panel guidance on association and the scope of its jurisdiction.

In with the new: the latest developments on the ACCC's new merger control regime

Annalisa Heger examines some recent Federal Government announcements and consultations that could significantly alter the landscape for some types of transactions as Australia's new merger control regime comes into effect.

Spotlight on Natsuko Ogawa – Japan-Australia connections

We talk to Natsuko Ogawa, leader of Ashurst's Japan practice in Australia and one of the foremost Australian lawyers for inbound Japanese investment.

More from this series

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