Ashurst and Norton Rose lead on £360m Australian mining deal

Ashurst London corporate partner Karen Davies led the London team representing St Barbara on the deal, with the overall management of the mandate falling to Ashurst Australia corporate partner Marie McDonald in Melbourne. London associate Chris Phillips and Melbourne corporate special counsel Claire Hannon were both closely involved in the advisory team.

The relationship is a legacy Blake Dawson one originating from the Melbourne office, with Ashurst acquiring the Australian Securities Exchange-listed client following its tie-up with the Australian firm earlier this year (26 September 2011).

Norton Rose London corporate partners Raj Karia and Paul Whitelock led for Allied, a year after the UK firm beat off competition from two rival firms in a pitch to guide the company through its three-way listing in London, Toronto and Australia (25 July 2011).

The firm also fielded Toronto corporate partner Pierre Dagenais and Perth corporate and resources partner Liz Allnutt on the latest transaction, with Perth partner Gary Thomas advising Allied on regulatory matters relating to the fact that it is listed in Australia.

Norton Rose has picked up a broad range of work for the gold producer since last year’s beauty parade, which the firm entered after being recommended by RBC Capital Markets, Allied’s financial adviser on both the float and the St Barbara deal.

Allied does not have a fixed panel of external firms or a formal in-house legal team, with decisions about instructions taken by a core group consisting of company secretary and non-lawyer Peter Torre, CEO Frank Terranova and CFO Stephen Kelly.