An investor's guide to the sector and its regulations.
Mark Standen has more than 25 years' experience in commercial and financial services sector M&A transactions and leads the firm's Financial Services Industry Group. Mark is also a senior member of the our Corporate HQ Advisory Team.
He has a strong practice advising on Corporations Act and Listing Rule compliance, mergers and acquisitions, demutualisations, insurance industry restructuring, joint ventures, and corporate governance issues including directors' and officers' duties and the law of meetings.
Mark also advises government agencies and government owned corporations on restructuring, statutory interpretation, legislative drafting and regulatory and governance issues.
Some long-standing clients include AMP, Allianz, Ausgrid, Medibank, Macquarie and Suncorp.
Mark regularly lectures on corporate law reform, co-authoring titles on Partnerships and Joint Ventures in Halsbury's Laws of Australia, the Joint Venture section of the Australian Encyclopaedia of Forms and Precedents and the Meetings Chapter of Australian Corporation Law Principles and Practice.
Areas of expertise include:
Mark has advised the boards of a number of State owned corporations and universities in New South Wales on directors' duties, including issues arising in restructure transactions. He also provides tailored training on directors' duties and liabilities.
A member of the firm's Corporate HQ Advisory Team, Mark has extensive expertise in corporate governance structuring and compliance. He regularly advises on Corporations Act and ASX Listing Rules issues, related party transactions, directors' duties, directors' indemnities, and matters associated with general meetings. This includes advising on the operation of APRA's corporate governance standards for general and life insurance companies.
Mark is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators, and regularly delivers presentations for Chartered Secretaries Australia and other educational conferences on corporate law reform, especially corporate governance and directors' duties.
Mark has a 25-year financial services transactions practice with particular expertise in applications for general insurance licences and life insurance authorisations and in portfolio transfer schemes. He has developed specialist knowledge of the Life Insurance Act and APRA standards affecting corporate transactions, outsourcings and the duties of directors of life insurers, especially as they affect the interests of policyowners. Mark also advises insurers, wealth managers and superannuation trustees on corporate governance issues.
Mark works closely with Minters' specialist funds management lawyers on transactions involving registered and unregistered managed investment schemes and trusts. This includes transactions involving transfer of management rights and property portfolios, development management agreements, and restructures by schemes of arrangement.
Mark has developed expertise in the acquisition and sale of retirement villages and portfolios. Amongst many transactions, he acted for Aevum Limited in its acquisition of the Sakkara portfolio, for IOR Group on several acquisitions, and for the Retirement Villages Group in its landmark acquisition of the Zig Inge portfolio.
Mark has also acted in mergers and acquisitions in the medical equipment, wholesale pharmaceutical distribution and health insurance areas for clients such as Fresenius Kabi, Fresenius Medical Care, Medibank Private, and Zuellig.
Mark has more than 25 years’ experience in commercial and financial services sector mergers and acquisitions acting for such leading clients as AMP, Allianz, Aviva, Barclays Group Investors, IAG, Macquarie, Promina, RBS, and Suncorp. His major transactions include the sale and purchase of insurance and wealth management businesses, restructures, demutualisations and portfolio transfers. Mark has also undertaken private M&A transactions for clients in the energy and resources, infrastructure, pharmaceutical and publishing sectors. He advises widely on Corporations Act and Listing Rules issues, incorporated and unincorporated joint ventures, and has conducted numerous landmark Australian demutualisations including those for the AMP Society, GIO Building Society and IOR, and for Medibank Private in the acquisition of Australian Health Management via demutualisation by scheme of arrangement.