Richard G Lewis
Senior Consultant
Norton Rose Fulbright Australia
Related services and key industries
Biography
Richard Lewis is a mergers & acquisitions and private equity lawyer based in Sydney.
Richard leads our private equity practice in Australia and the Asia Pacific region.
He has been a trusted advisor to a wide range of global and Australian corporations on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, initial public offerings and other commercial transactions for almost 30 years. Over that period Richard has forged a reputation as one of Australia's leading and most experienced private equity and mergers and acquisitions lawyers.
Richard is a thought leader in the private equity and mergers & acquisitions space. He has had numerous articles published in the Australian Private Equity and Venture Capital Journal and has been a regular speaker and chairperson at conferences including at private equity and M&A master class seminars.
Professional experience
Collapse all- LLB (Hons) Sheffield University, UK
- Solicitors Final Exams, Chester, UK
- High Court of Australia 1996
- Solicitor, qualified in England & Wales 1986
- Solicitor, qualified in New South Wales 1988
- Supreme Court of Victoria 1994
- Accenture - Advised global consulting group Accenture, on a number of acquisitions of cyber security businesses including the acquisition of Australian cyber security group Redcore and on various post-merger integration (PMI) matters.
- Nature's Care – Advised the Founders of Nature's Care on the sale of a majority interest in leading vitamin skin care group Nature's Care, to a Chinese consortium of SOE's/private equity funds by way of a competitive sale process in 2018. The transaction was one of the largest private equity transactions in Australia in 2018.
- Office Depot, Inc – Advised leading US office stationery group Office Depot Inc, on the sale of Office Depot's Australian and New Zealand business (Office Max) to leading US private equity group Platinum Equity.
- Summit Partners – Advised leading US private equity group Summit Partners on its first two acquisitions in Australia, the acquisition of a majority interest in a leading consumer brand and online fashion business each valued at over AU$100 million.
- Primo Group – Advised the founding family of Primo Group on the AU$700 million+ buyout of the remaining founder and the subsequent disposal of a controlling stake in the Primo Group to Affinity Private Equity.
- CHAMP – Advised Castle Harlan Australian Mezzanine Partners (CHAMP) on a number of majority investments including the leveraged buyout of Australian Pacific Paper Products.
- CHAMP Ventures – Advised Australian private equity fund CHAMP Ventures on numerous acquisitions and disposals of Australian and cross border businesses over an 8 year period.
- Direct Capital Private Equity – Advised leading New Zealand group Direct Capital on numerous acquisitions and disposals of controlling interests in Australian businesses over a 20 year period.
- Baring Private Equity Asia – Advised leading Asian Private Equity Fund BPE on its proposed acquisition of Healthe Care, the third largest private hospital operator in Australia.
- Downer EDI Group – Advised ASX listed Downer EDI Group on numerous acquisitions and disposals in the road maintenance, engineering, commercial laundries and transport sectors since 2018.
- Spotless Group – Advising Spotless on all legal aspects of its competitive sale process for the sale of the largest commercial laundry business in Australia and New Zealand.
- Independent Living Specialists (ILS) – Advised the founders of ILS on the controlling investment by US Private Equity group Riverside in ILS in 2020.
- Planit Test Management Solutions – Advised the founder of PTMS on the sale of a majority interest in the leading software testing and training business to The Growth Fund.
- ATP and USS – Advised ATP (largest pension fund in Denmark) and USS (major UK pension fund) as members of an institutional consortium of pension funds on the AU$2.3 billion take private of the ConnectEast Group.
- ATP – Advised ATP and other foreign pension funds on the acquisition of a substantial equity stake in a consortium managed by Hancock which acquired all of the assets of Forestry Plantations Queensland for AU$600 million.
- Madison Dearborn Partners – Advised leading US private equity group Madison Dearborn Partners and its investee companies on the acquisition of a number of Australian and New Zealand businesses including Sirva Group Inc, InMoment and MaritzCX between 2018 and 2020 including PMI advice.
- Modern Star – Advised the founders of educational products business Modern Star on the sale of a controlling interest in the Group to Navis for AU$200 million+.
- Archer Growth Fund – Advised Archer Growth Fund on several buyouts in Australia including its take private of Keycorp Ltd (manufacturer of smartcard and IP enabled payment terminals) and divestment of Keycorp to a European private equity fund.
- Superior Foods Group – Advised the founders of NFD Holdings and Superior Foods on the sale of a controlling interest in their food distribution businesses to Superior Foods Holdings, a new company controlled and financed by Quadrant Private Equity including PMI.
- Private Equity Lawyer of the Year, Best Lawyers Australia, 2015
- Leading Private Equity and M&A lawyer, Best Lawyers Australia, 2008–18
- Leading individual in M&A and private equity, Chambers Global, 2007–17
- 'Highly recommended' for private equity, Practical Law Company: Guide to Private Equity Lawyers Worldwide
Richard has had numerous articles published in the Australian Private Equity and Venture Capital Journal and other M&A publications including:
- "Vendor Due Diligence – a useful tool in the transaction process"
- "Liability in pre contractual negotiations"
- "Private Equity Exits – Part 1 – Facilitating an Exit"
- "Private Equity Exits – Part 2 – Warranties and Post Exit Liability"
- "Secondary Buy-outs"
- "Consortium Deals – Plan ahead for a Good Working Relationship"
- "Simultaneous Roll-ups"
- "Recent Developments in Private Equity"
- AVCAL Member
- English
- French
Insights
Australian public and private M&A outlook report 2024
Publication | February 22, 2024
Australian public M&A deal trends report 2023
Publication | February 22, 2023