The law firm advised Foster’s Group on the sale of the Australian and New Zealand component of its Wine Clubs and Services Business to funds associated with private equity firm Archer Capital.

These included Cellarmaster Wines and Vinpac International in Australia, Cardmember Wines and Carters in New Zealand and an investment in Wine Buzz in Japan. Corrs said it had worked closely with Foster’s on its “transformation” from a “diversified portfolio of businesses to a leading integrated global drinks provider.”

“This was a substantial effort; there are now some 24 separate agreements documenting the relationship, many of them involving companies incorporated in different jurisdictions and subject to different laws,” said Corrs’ lead partner on the deal Simon Morris.

“A Corrs lawyer has also been seconded to Foster’s for the sole purpose of working on the separation of the IT contracts between the two businesses.”

The deals the law firm has worked on for Foster’s included the sale of its leisure and hospitality business in 2003, the Lensworth land development business in 2004, as well as a series of overseas divestments.

These included the sale of the Foster’s brand in Europe to Scottish & Newcastle and breweries in India, Vietnam and China to SABMiller, APB and Suntory respectively, netting Foster’s a total of about $1 billion.

The core project team working with Morris on sale of the Wine Clubs and Services Business were Vanessa Smith, Kristy Parsons, James Morley, and Justin Fox.

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They were assisted by lawyers across all Corrs’ work groups including, Phil Catania, Matthew Craven, Breen Creighton, David Smith, Ben Davidson, Stewart Grieve, Dixon Hearder, Stephen Kroker, Roy Weitzman, Melissa Elliott, Fran Wheelahan, Rhys Jewell, Scott Millar, Fiona McGauchie, Ben Cas, Danny Nemer, Som Leung, Sheree Siow, Anna White, Kristy Parsons, Chris Taylor, Sara Georgandas, Brooke Lanarus, Faisal Mian, Norah Wright and Tony Mohorovic.