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Bakers new Melbourne MP shines light on growth strategy

The new Melbourne managing partner at Baker McKenzie has offered insight on how he intends to maximise on growth opportunities across the Victorian market.

user iconEmma Musgrave 02 October 2019 Big Law
Alex Wolff
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Bakers’ new Melbourne managing partner Alex Wolff says he anticipates more growth for the local office, “as the state’s economy outpaces the rest of the country”.

“Victoria has long been attractive for Japanese trade and investment and our Australian offices foresee further activity by Japanese companies seeking Australian acquisition opportunities,” Mr Wolff said.

“Recently the firm advised Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation (MUTB) on its agreement to acquire Colonial First State Global Asset Management from Commonwealth Bank of Australia for $4.1 billion.

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“Low interest rates in Japan combined with limited investment opportunity at home have created an environment of increasing foreign direct investment into Australia. Indeed, our Melbourne office acted on the first-ever occasion that a company has offered Tokyo Stock Exchange-listed shares as consideration for an Australian-listed company in the scheme of arrangement for Tokyo Stock Exchange-listed LIFULL Co Ltd on its acquisition of ASX-listed Mitula Group Limited.”

Furthermore, Mr Wolff said: “The Victorian government has introduced a bill to parliament which – if passed will legally enshrine a new renewable energy target of 50 per cent renewables by 2030 – the first state in Australia to do so”.

“Renewables are now the cheapest form of new-build power generation in Australia and, as a result, we are seeing an increasing uptake of corporates entering into power purchase agreements with wind and solar projects.

“These are corporate PPAs and we have recently acted, for instance, for Mars Australia to match 100 per cent of its electricity use with renewable energy by 2020. From this emerges an expected pipeline of work in large-scale wind, solar PV, pumped hydro, and waste to energy projects – from greenfields project development, construction, and project financing to brownfield M&A.”

In terms of what this means for the firm, Mr Wolff said he expects continued engagement with clients in the renewables space.

“Our focus is to stay close to our clients and to develop our talent pool in these and other areas of growth to meet our clients’ needs,” he explained.

If the past three years are any guide to the future, we have seen our Melbourne energy, resources and infrastructure group experience phenomenal growth, requiring a 75 per cent increase in headcount, and our Melbourne dispute resolution group has increased 40 per cent (by headcount) in response to client-driven demand for our legal services.

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