Ashley Varney

Managing Associate (Admitted in New Zealand and NSW Australia), Corporate Finance
London

Expertise

Ashley has a range of experience in domestic and cross border mergers and acquisitions, equity investments, joint ventures, corporate governance and general corporate and commercial matters. Ashley has a particular focus on the Financial Services sector, having advised a range of bank and non-bank financial institutions on complex M&A transactions and corporate advisory matters and having previously acted as legal counsel at a global payments company. She also has broader sector experience, having acted on domestic and global transactions across the retail and consumer and energy sectors.

Experience

Highlights of Ashley's work includes advising:

Shawbrook Bank on its acquisition of luxury vehicle finance provider JBR Capital and its group.

Hitachi on its joint venture with FirstGroup plc for the leasing of electric bus batteries and the provision of battery charging and management services by Hitachi ZeroCarbon to FirstGroup's bus fleet.

Asahi on its AUD16 billion acquisition of Carlton & United Breweries, the Australian arm of Anheuser-Busch InBev.*

Dexus on the AUD15 billion merger by trust scheme of Dexus Wholesale Property Fund and a subsidiary of a large global investment manager and the separate acquisition of a subsidiary of a large global investment manager and Australian infrastructure business (AUD28 billion of FUM).*

IOOF on it’s AUD1.4 billion acquisition of superannuation and wealth management business, MLC Wealth, a subsidiary of National Australia Bank.*

A Swedish conglomerate on various global acquisitions in the manufacturing sector.*

EG on the acquisition of the Woolworths Petrol Business for AUD1.8 billion.*

*Denotes experience gained at another firm.

Education

Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand – Bachelor of Laws (First Class Honours) and Bachelor of Arts (Majoring in Political Science and International Relations)