Neil Pathak, Partner

Neil heads the Gilbert + Tobin Mergers and Acquisitions team in the Melbourne office.

He specialises in listed company takeovers, cross border M&A, mining/resources, capital markets and corporate governance matters.

Neil is recognised as a leading M&A lawyer in a number of international publications including Best Lawyers, Chambers, PLC Which Lawyer? and International Who’s Who of M&A Lawyers 2012. Neil was recently named 2012 Melbourne "M&A lawyer of the year" by Best Lawyers. He is co-author of the leading text on Australian takeovers, Takeovers Law and Strategy.

In 2012 Neil is advising or has advised on the following transactions:

Orica on its Pilbara joint venture with Yara and Apache to build a US$800 million ammonium nitrate plant and its distribution and marketing joint venture.
DuluxGroup on its unsolicited takeover bid for Alesco.
Exxaro Resources on its takeover of African Iron.
Pact Group on various acquisitions and disposals.
Alsons Group on the acquisition of19.9% of Indophil Resources.
Taswood Growers JV partners (Forestry Tasmania and GMO) on the sale of their softwood plantations to New Forests.

Neil has a track record of successfully advising leading clients on company defining or bet the farm transactions including:

Orica and Dulux Group on the demerger and ASX listing of DuluxGroup.
Pure Energy on the competing takeover bids for it by BG plc and Arrow Energy resulting in the company being acquired for over $1 billion.
OZ Minerals on its US$1.4 billion asset sale to China Minmetals and related takeover and recapitalisation proposals.
MYOB on its takeover by Manhattan Software, a private equity consortium.
Coles on its $22 billion takeover by Wesfarmers (Australia’s largest ever takeover).
Orica on its acquisition of Dyno Nobel in a consortium with Macquarie Bank for US$1.7 billion.

Neil has spent time working at pre-eminent London and New York law firms.

Neil has bachelor degrees in Law (with First Class Honours) and Commerce (Finance major) from the University of Melbourne. He also has a Post Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance and Investment. He lectures in takeovers and securities laws at the University Melbourne and is a member of the Corporations Committee of the Law Council of Australia.

Team

Neil Pathak, Partner