About

Award-winning in-house lawyer Daniel Krutik routinely handles billion-dollar cross-border transactions for Australia’s leading energy company, Origin. He drew particular recognition for his handling of its $3.26bn acquisition of two electricity retailers from the State in 2011. Handled simultaneously as one transaction, the purchases were funded by Australia’s largest ever rights offer. The government was selling several retailer and generators at the time, and Origin was interested in several different assets on offer. ‘This required a massive amount of due diligence to be undertaken on all of the assets and for transaction documents to be negotiated all at the same time in relation to multiple combinations of assets’, Krutik explains. ‘It also drove a greater than normal level of complexity for the anti-trust approval process, which was ultimately successful’. Leading a compact team, Krutik coordinates legal support across a broad spectrum of business streams. Having joined the function during a period of rapid expansion, he has recruited extensively, and brought a great deal of work in-house. He has also actively formalised structures and processes during his five years in the role. When it comes to law firms, Krutik pinpoints attention to the smaller details, rather than major changes. He particularly recommends ‘more flexible fee arrangements’ and ‘in some cases, being more proactive around transaction management – rather than reactive’.