About Charles Ashton
Charles is an experienced M&A professional having advised on many of Australia's most significant M&A deals.
He specialises in complex domestic and cross-border transactions and has extensive experience in large-scale public M&A and infrastructure transactions, competitive sale processes and corporate governance. He previously worked at Linklaters in London.
Charles' public M&A experience includes advising:
- Unibail-Rodamco – $32.7 billion acquisition of Westfield Corporation by way of interconditional company and trust schemes, the listing of the new Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield stapled group on the ASX, Euronext Paris and Euronext Amsterdam and associated demerger and listing of One Market Limited on the ASX.
- DUET Group – $7.4 billion acquisition by a consortium led by Cheung Kong Infrastructure of 100% of DUET's stapled securities by way of interconditional company and trust schemes.
- QIC Private Capital - $535 million acquisition of Pacific Energy Limited by way of scheme of arrangement.
- Zenith Energy Ltd – $250 million proposed acquisition by Pacific Equity Partners Limited by way of scheme of arrangement
- Quadrant / APM – acquisition of Konekt Limited by way of scheme of arrangement.
- Qube Holdings Limited – off-market cash and scrip takeover of logistics operator Chalmers Limited.
- Ferrovial – $813 million off-market takeover of Broadspectrum Limited.
- Brookfield – $420 million take private of the Brookfield Prime Property Fund.
- Genting Hong Kong – investment in The Star Entertainment Group Limited.
- News Limited – $1.94 billion acquisition of Consolidated Media Holdings by scheme of arrangement.
- Conquest Mining – (now Evolution Mining) successful hostile takeover bid for North Queensland Metals Limited and its acquisition of HSK Gold.
- AGL Limited – acquisition of Mosaic Oil NL by scheme of arrangement.
- FerrAus Limited – successful defence of a hostile takeover bid by Wah Nam International.
- Newcrest Mining – $9.5 billion merger with Lihir Gold.
- Queensland Treasury – initial public offering of QR National Limited.
Charles' private M&A experience includes:
- BP – establishment of a new A$1.75 billion unlisted REIT comprising 225 long WALE convenience retail properties and the sale of a 49% interest to a Charter Hall managed partnership for $850 million.
- BAE Systems – acquisition of ASC Shipbuilding from the Commonwealth of Australia to support the Commonwealth's $35 billion Hunter class frigate shipbuilding program for the Royal Australian Navy.
- NSW Treasury – $9.3 billion sale of a 51 per cent interest in the WestConnex project to Transurban.
- NSW Treasury – $10.3 billion 99-year lease of TransGrid to the NSW Electricity Networks Consortium.
- NSW Treasury – the sale Pillar Administration to Mercer.
- Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield – in connection with several multi-billion dollar domestic and cross-border reorganisations following the merger of Unibail-Rodamco and Westfield.
- First State Super – $360 million combined debt and equity investment in Oak Tree Group, being the super fund's first investment in the retirement village sector.
- Archer Capital – $938 million divestment of private hospital business Healthe Care to China's Luye Medical Group.
- Novartis – US$7.1 billion sale of its vaccines business to GSK, which formed part of a complex global asset swap involving the US$14.5 billion purchase of GSK’s oncology business and the contribution of its OTC business to a joint venture with GSK's healthcare business.
- Siemens – £985 million acquisition of Rolls-Royce's global aero-derivative gas turbine and compressor business.
- Alberta Investment Management Corporation, Allianz Capital Funds, Hastings Funds Management and EDF Invest – successful $3.2 billion consortium bid for Porterbrook Trains, a UK rolling stock leasing company.