David is a dual qualified (NSW and England & Wales) corporate and commercial lawyer with extensive experience in corporate and commercial law advisory as well as corporate transactions across equity capital markets (including Australian and foreign entity IPOs and capital raisings), mergers & acquisitions, due diligence and general commercial contracting arrangements.
David is highly regarded for his ability to manage complex corporate transactions and has acted for and advised a range of organisations, from startup businesses to multinational corporations, across various sectors in both Australia and in the United Kingdom.
Experience
David advises clients on all legal aspects of their business, including private and public M&A. He is also experienced in all aspects of the investment process, including entity and transaction structuring, term sheet negotiation, due diligence, seed and series funding, convertible notes and eventually through to exit (trade sales, dual tracks, foreign listings and IPOs). David also regularly advises clients in respect of Australia's corporate law obligations, including the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) and Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) Listing Rules.
David is a dual qualified lawyer, having been admitted as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of New South Wales and a Solicitor of the Senior Courts of England and Wales. Throughout his career David has acted for clients across a broad range of sectors including life sciences and biotechnology, energy and resources, professional services, technology and construction/engineering.
David has previous experience as a director in the corporate and commercial law team of a Big 4 consulting firm. Prior to that he spent five years as a corporate lawyer in the United Kingdom, specialising in corporate transactions (ECM and M&A) as well as corporate and commercial advisory.
David's national and international experience has seen him advise on transactions for clients that are listed on all of the world's major exchanges, including ASX, Nasdaq, NYSE, TSX and the LSE. He has conducted deals across most of the major continents, including Australia, Asia, the Americas, Africa and Europe.
David's areas of expertise include:
- Equity Capital Markets: Initial Public Offerings, re-compliance listings, foreign company listings (by way of issue of CHESS Depositary Interests) and dual listings, secondary placings, private capital raisings, convertible notes and other convertible securities
- Mergers and acquisitions: private and public transactions, due diligence, restructurings and business/asset sales
- corporate law obligations including ASX Listing Rules advice, Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) compliance and director duties/obligations
- corporate governance matters
- advising not-for-profits, including legal requirements and corporate governance matters
- advising startups on all aspects of their business including capital raising and exit strategies
- preparing, and advising on, commercial agreements/contracts
Career highlights
David's recent career highlights include, advising:
Capital Markets
- radiopharmaceuticals company, Clarity Pharmaceuticals on its $92m capital raising and admission to the Official List of the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) (being the largest clinical stage biotech in ASX's history)
- Clarity Pharmaceuticals on its $121 million placement and accelerated rights issue
- 3ME Technology group on its convertible note fundraising (including investment by ABGF and CEFC) and related matters
- RHI Magnesita, a London and Vienna listed global refractory business, on its multi-million dollar investments and collaboration arrangements with clean-tech start-up, MCI Carbon
- Airtree, a leading Australian venture capital investment group, on its Series A investment in the Australian ESG focused business, FairSupply
- various start-up entities on seed funding, convertible note raisings (including SAFE notes) and related matters
- various ASX-listed entities on various capital raisings and IPOs
- various AIM and LSE-listed entities on various capital raisings and IPOs.
M&A
- The founders and shareholders of Smart Energy Group on its majority sale and partnership with Rinnai Australia
- The founders and shareholders of Allied Grain Group on its 100% sale to the Mitchells Group
- Armstrong Flooring Australia on the sale of its assets to the Cowes Bay Group in connection with a Delaware court-supervised competitive sale and bid process via a US Chapter XI insolvency proceeding
- the shareholders of the Connect Infrastructure group on the sale of their business to ASX-listed entity, GenusPlus
- the shareholders of a private app development company on the sale of its emergency response platform to Motorola, Inc
- the shareholders of the River Group Limited, a top six UK content marketing agency, on its sale to an affiliate of Sun Capital Partners LLP, a US private equity house
- France based, Productlife Group, on its acquisition of leading pharmaceutical and medical device commercialisation company, Commercial Eyes
- Belgium based, Christeyns, on its acquisition of a majority stake in the chemicals focused True Brands group and associated shareholder arrangements
- Australian Edtech business, Skilligence, on its acquisition of the registered training provider, the Comtech Group
- Automic Group on its acquisitions of Whittens and McKeough and CFO Innovation.