Ropes & Gray is representing Bain Capital on the private equity firm’s acquisition of MYOB, Australia’s largest business software developer, announced on Aug. 21.
Lawyers from Ropes & Gray’s Hong Kong office led the team on the deal, which represents Bain’s largest acquisition in Australia and the third-largest private equity divestment ever in Australia, according to press reports. The buyout was announced after Bain’s offer was selected in a competitive bid process.
Ropes & Gray was led by Hong Kong-based private equity partner Brian Schwarzwalder and Hong Kong-based finance partner Michael Nicklin and included partner Alison Bomberg (private equity), along with associates William Chou in Hong Kong (private equity) and Andrew Bishop in London (finance). Boston-based partners Elaine Murphy and David Saltzman and associate Jean-Michel Noel advised on tax issues. The Australian firm Clayton Utz provided Australia counsel.
MYOB, which was owned by Archer Capital, is Australia’s leader in financial software and is used by more than a million small- and medium-sized business in Australia and New Zealand.
Ropes & Gray has represented Bain Capital on the private equity firm’s significant transactions in Asia, including its $1.1 billion acquisition of Bellsystem 24, the leading call center operator in Japan, and its $690 million tender offer acquisition of D&M Holdings. Those deals were named “Japan Technology, Media and Telecommunications Deal of the Year” by Asian Legal Business in 2009 and 2010.
Ropes & Gray, which opened an office in Shanghai this year, has had a strong impact in Asia since opening offices in Tokyo in 2007 and Hong Kong in 2008. In 2010, Asian Legal Business honored the firm’s Hong Kong-based lawyers for their role in China’s “M&A Deal of the Year,” GCL-Poly Energy Holdings Ltd.’s $3.4 billion acquisition of Jiangsu Zhongneng.
Earlier this year, the firm advised Quanta Computer of Taiwan on its Singapore-based joint venture with the 3M Company of the United States. The firm previously advised TPG in its investment in China Vogue Casualwear, a Shishi, China-based distributor and retailer of casual wear and represented TPG as selling shareholder in the NYSE IPO of ShangPharma, a Shanghai-based contract research organization that provides a portfolio of services to global pharmaceutical and biotech companies.
Ropes & Gray is a recognized global leader in private equity, M&A, finance, investment management, securities litigation, complex business litigation, government enforcement, health care, life sciences, intellectual property, and tax, among other practices. The firm has offices in leading financial and business centers around the world, including Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo, London, New York, Washington, D.C., Boston, San Francisco, Silicon Valley and Chicago.
