About

Leading a highly regarded cross-border team, the ‘strategic’ and ‘stoical’ John Frangi has carved out a reputation for his management of ground-breaking real estate transactions in the region. These include creating a billion-dollar listed trust comprising 69 shopping centres, and selling Dick Smith’s Australia and New Zealand businesses. Internally, he has been praised for his exceptional management and relationship-building skills. A core part of his philosophy centres on maintaining team morale and personal development. He has made considerable changes to the team, including outsourcing a sizeable chunk of high volume work and creating a precedent bank of core documentation. He is currently in the process of restructuring the property legal team, to heighten commerciality and efficiency. ‘We are going through a significant period of change at Woolworths’, Frangi says. ‘The company is significantly reducing its operating costs, removing inefficiencies and repositioning itself to improve its competitiveness in a highly competitive and regulated marketplace. There is much work to do but significant benefit to be gained. To assist the company in achieving its objective, the legal department has restructured with a focus on greater alignment to the business, improved service and a relentless cost reduction focus’.