Mayne Wetherell

The firm: Mayne Wetherell is a leading New Zealand law firm, known for advising on significant and often complex commercial transactions. Having long been recognised for its market-leading corporate and finance practices, the firm has recently added tax law to its offering, having been joined in 2021 by a team of tax specialists from another New Zealand firm.

Main areas of practice
Mergers and acquisitions: Mayne Wetherell advises on the full range of M&A activity, including listed company takeovers, cross-border transactions, distressed assets, industry consolidations and major divestments. Mayne Wetherell’s lawyers are experienced across a range of sectors, including food and beverage, TMT, property, infrastructure, primary industry, private equity, financial services and healthcare.

Mayne Wetherell’s lawyers are experts in structuring and executing foreign direct investment into New Zealand, including advising on all aspects of New Zealand’s foreign investment consenting regime (the Overseas Investment Act).

Recent transactions include:

• Acting for global investment firm KKR in relation to a number of its transactions in New Zealand, including the acquisitions of Ritchies (a New Zealand bus and coach business), Education Perfect (a New Zealand based online education business), Argenta (a leading animal health-focused pharma services platform) and Natural Pet Food Group (a New Zealand-based premium pet food business).
• Acting as lead counsel to the vendors in relation to their sale of Ziwi, a leading New Zealand-based pet food exporter and the global leader of air-dried pet nutrition, to Fountainvest Partners a Hong-Kong based private equity firm.
• Acting for Waterman Capital on its acquisition, aggregation and subsequent divestment of Provincial Education Group to Busy Bees Australia.
  Contact: Michael Pritchard
  Tel: +64 9 921 6073
  Email: [email protected]

Banking and finance: Mayne Wetherell has acted for all the major banks; the firm has also provided all banking and finance related advice to New Zealand’s largest company, Fonterra Co-operative Group Limited, as well as to Auckland International Airport, 2degrees and Transpower.

Recent transactions include:

• Acting on multiple transactions for global credit funds, such as Goldman SSG, Varde, Merricks, M&G, Blackstone, KKR and others.
• Acting for Auckland Council, Auckland International Airport, Fonterra and Transpower and other corporates in relation to their treasury-related work, including bilateral and syndicated facilities, various issuances of debt securities in New Zealand (both retail and wholesale; and listed and unlisted), various Australian MTN issuances, US private placements and other offshore issuances, including green bond issuances.
• Acting for originators, financiers and independent trustees (as applicable) in relation to multiple warehouse and term securitisation transactions. Mayne Wetherell’s clients on these transactions have included Avanti Finance Limited, Bank of New Zealand, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Westpac New Zealand Limited, Deutsche Bank AG, M&G Investments, Goldman Sachs and other originators, global banks and investment funds and independent trustee companies.
  Contact: Will Tipping
  Tel: +64 9 921 6074
  Email: [email protected]

Tax: Mayne Wetherell’s Tax team was formed when a team of tax lawyers joined from another New Zealand firm in 2021. The team has advised on:

• Tax disputes, including numerous cases before the courts (involving tax avoidance, transfer pricing, capital/revenue, depreciation, and judicial review of the exercise of Inland Revenue’s powers) and in the MAP process.
• Obtaining Inland Revenue rulings.
• Regulatory capital-raisings for banks.
• M&A transactions, demergers and other corporate restructurings.
• The formation of investment funds.
• Customs and excise issues.
• Tax issues for individuals and family trusts.
• Tax reform initiatives, in which the team has advocated for clients and industry bodies.

While providing support to Mayne Wetherell’s transactional teams, the tax team is also instructed directly by clients across a range of industries and has worked alongside transactional lawyers in a number of other firms.

One attribute setting the team apart is its involvement in the tax reform process. This helps the team to advise not only on the ‘black letter law’ aspect of an issue but also on the broader policy context and Inland Revenue’s approach, which is critical to determining the best strategy and achieving practical outcomes.

The team also has an in-depth understanding of international tax issues, including the BEPS reforms enacted since 2017 and latest OECD proposals. The team has advised on several transfer pricing cases including cases that led to litigation or referral to MAP. The team has an in-depth knowledge of New Zealand’s Tax Treaty network and has co-authored the New Zealand chapter of the IBFD Global Tax Treaty Commentaries.
Contact: Brendan Brown
Tel: +64 4 260 2231
Email: [email protected]