Leading Perth investment banker Michael Ashforth has quit boutique investment bank Gresham to move across to head Macquarie Capital's Western Australian operation.
Leading Perth investment banker Michael Ashforth has quit boutique investment bank Gresham to move across to head Macquarie Capital's Western Australian operation.
Justin Mannolini will take the official post of head of Perth office for Gresham, though he told WA Business News he, Jenny Seabrook and Julian Mills would form a leadership team for Western Australia.
Mr Mannolini said Ms Seabrook would devote more of her time to Gresham in the short-term, having moved to a part-time role some time ago.
Mr Ashforth told Gresham of his plan Monday after taking extensive leave over Christmas and the firm has been advising staff and clients today.
He was a corporate lawyer at Freehills before he moved into investment banking in the 1990s. It is understood he will continue to work in mergers and acquisitions at Macquarie but will also expand into other areas the bank offers in capital and debt markets.
Mr Ashforth said it had been a tough decision to leave Gresham, having established the Perth office of the firm 13 years ago.
"It was around the opportunity to expand the range of work I do and expand the product offering from a global point of view," Mr Ashforth said, after confirming news of his departure.
It is understood that Martin Alciaturi remains at Macquarie and will work with Mr Ashforth.
Below is an official announcement obtained from Macquarie after this story was uploaded onto our website. There are also biographies obtained from company websites:
Macquarie Group today announced Michael Ashforth has been appointed as an Executive Director of Macquarie Capital Advisers in Perth.
Mr Ashforth has more than 20 years experience in mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance. He joins Macquarie from Gresham Advisory Partners, where he was head of Gresham's Perth operations for 13 years.
The appointment will further strengthen the management team at Macquarie Capital Advisers and Macquarie's advisory presence in Perth.
Michael Carapiet, head of Macquarie Capital Advisers, said "We are delighted to welcome Michael Ashforth to the Macquarie Capital Advisers team in Perth. His extensive experience will be of great benefit to our clients. The strength of his relationships will complement our business in Western Australia, particularly in the resources space where we are seeing strong domestic and cross border activity."
Mr Ashforth said: "Macquarie's strong balance sheet and global business provide a range of opportunities and I look forward to discussing these with clients."
Macquarie Capital Advisers is one of several Macquarie Group businesses servicing West Australian-based clients. Macquarie Group employs approximately 130 staff in Perth, providing banking, advisory, wealth management, funds management and real estate management services.
Michael Ashforth joined Gresham in 1997, establishing the Perth office which he has led for the duration of that period.
Prior to joining Gresham, Mr Ashforth was a partner in the Mergers & Acquisitions Group of Freehill Hollingdale & Page where he was involved in local and cross border mergers and acquisitions, fundraising and corporate restructuring. Michael's most recent transactions have included the takeover of Summit Resources; Murchison Metals' mining and infrastructure joint venture with Mitsubishi as well as its unsolicited takeover of Mid-West corporation; UK based Gem Diamonds agreed takeover of Kimberley Diamonds; and the defence of PCH Group.
Mr Ashforth is also a member of the Takeovers Panel.
He graduated from the University of Western Australia with a Bachelor of Jurisprudence (Honours) and a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) and he was admitted to practice as a solicitor in both New South Wales and in Western Australia.
Justin Mannolini has more than 12 years' corporate finance experience and has advised on a wide range of M&A, reconstruction and equity capital markets transactions across a range of sectors including energy & resources, financial services and real estate. Prior to joining Gresham in 2008, he was a Partner in both the Sydney and Perth offices of law firm Freehills.
Major transactions that Justin has been involved in include the acquisition by Commonwealth Bank of the Colonial Group; the implementation of the BHP/Billiton DLC structure; Wesfarmers' acquisition of Howard Smith; the restructure and IPO of Worley Limited, and its subsequent acquisition of Parsons E&C, to become WorleyParsons Limited; AngloAmerican's bid for North Ltd and the divestment of its interest in Anaconda Nickel; Centro's bid for the AMP Shopping Centre Trust; the takeovers of Valhalla Uranium and Summit Resources for Paladin Resources; and asset sales for the administrators of the failed Sons of Gwalia group.
He has also advised on numerous small to medium-sized IPOs and secondary raisings across a range of industries, acting for both issuers and underwriters/arrangers.
Mr Mannolini has a Commerce/Law degree with Honours from the University of Western Australia and a Master of Laws from the University of Cambridge.
Jennifer Seabrook joined Gresham Partners in 1998 and has worked on a variety of mergers, acquisitions and capital structuring advisory transactions. These have included the sales of Wesfarmers' Pulpwood Operations and its interest in the Australian Railroad Group, HSBC's Australian online broking business and margin lending book and Hartley Poynton's margin loan book; the structuring of the buy back rights for West Australian Newspapers; the restructuring of ownership interests in the Heytesbury Group; being a member of the advisory team for the successful takeovers of Central Norseman and Howard Smith, and acting on the defences of Universal Resources, Tethyan Copper and JDV Limited.
Ms Seabrook is also currently deputy chair of Western Power, and a member of the Takeovers Panel, the Finsia's Markets Policy Group, and a non-executive director of West Australian Newspapers Holdings Limited. Before joining Gresham Partners, Jenny worked with Hartley Poynton, HSBC Group and Touche Ross on a range of transactions which gave her exposure to capital markets, debt markets and valuation issues.
She holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Western Australia and is a chartered accountant, a Fellow of the Institute of Company Directors, a Senior Fellow of Finsia and is on the External Advisory Panel for ASIC.
Julian Mills has worked on a variety of corporate transactions in the engineering, industrial, media, education, utilities, transport, and in particular the resources sector. Public market acquisition experience includes advising Croesus in relation to Central Norseman, Gallery Gold in relation to the Spinifex merger, Iluka in relation to the acquisition of Basin Minerals, Murchison in relation to Midwest and Wesfarmers in relation to Howard Smith. Defence experience includes advising PCH Group in relation to the Cape plc takeover, Portman Mining in relation to the Cleveland Cliff's acquisition, NuStar Mining's defence in relation to the Sedimentary offer, Tethyan Copper in relation to Crosby Capital and Antofagasta's offers, and Universal Resources defence in relation to CopperCo.
Trade acquisitions include Navitas's acquisition of ACL and ACBT, Brandrill's acquisition of DT HiLoad, and Wesfarmer's acquisition of Westrail. Trade sales experience on the sell side includes the divestment of copper and tin assets for Iluka, the Lennard Shelf lead and zinc assets for the receiver of Western Metals, the Mitsubishi Murchison joint venture.
Before joining Gresham Partners, Mr Mills worked with RFC Corporate Finance providing corporate advice to a range of Australian and International clients. Prior to that he worked in Ernst & Young's corporate advisory division in Perth and Commercial Union plc's group corporate finance and planning department in London. Julian also has five years experience as a professional engineer.
He holds a degree in engineering with honours from the University of Western Australia, an MBA from the London Business School, where he graduated with distinction, and a post-graduate diploma in Applied Finance and Investment from the Financial Services Institute of Australasia.
Martin Alciaturi has been with Macquarie for three years as Head of Corporate Finance, Perth. Prior to Macquarie, Martin spent 10 years at Ernst & Young where he built the Transaction Advisory division to be Perth's largest corporate finance business. Martin is a member of ASIC's WA Regional Liaison Committee and the Takeovers Panel. Martin is also a Board Member of Activ.
Mr Alciaturi has a Bachelor of Science (Engineering) (Honours), University of London, is a Chartered Accountant and a Senior Fellow, FINSIA
His experience includes:
- Advising the Receivers and Managers of Midwest Vanadium Pty Ltd on their recapitalisation;
- Advising Woodside on the divestment of the Otway Gas Asset for a total of A$712.5m;
- Advising Aquila Resources on strategic options;
- Advising the Tango Consortium of Antam and Zhongjin on its proposed A$563m offer for Herald Resources, the first proposed takeover bid by a Chinese party for an ASX listed company;
- Arc Energy's purchase of Wandoo assets from Mitsui for US$315m;
- Arc Energy on it's A$90m rights issue and bridge finance facility to fund the Wandoo acquisition;
- LionOre International in relation to its successful takeover bid for it's Australian listed subsidiary, LionOre Australia (Nickel) Limited and LionOre International's subsequent ASX listing;
- Woodside Petroleum Limited in relation to the proposed acquisition of Veba Oil & Gas from BP;
- Adviser to the Woodside Board on the unsolicited merger/takeover proposals received from Shell;
- Wesfarmers Limited in relation to the 2001 restructure and Howard Smith takeover;
- Epic Energy on the refinancing / sale of the Dampier to Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline as well as the sale of Epic East;
- Clough Limited on its placements to Murray & Roberts.
