Partnering with clients to provide on-demand contract lawyers, giving in-house legal teams the confidence to be agile.
Rhys Guild is the Head of Sydney Tax group and also the firm’s national GST leader. He is recognised as one of Australia’s foremost GST/ VAT practitioners.
Rhys advises leading corporations and public entities on GST, PAYG and customs duty, focused on the financial services, property and construction, energy, telecommunications and government sectors.
In addition to advisory work, Rhys assists clients with ATO audits, disputes and applications for binding rulings. He also represents clients before the Federal Court, the Full Federal Court and the High Court of Australia.
Some long-standing clients include American Express, Brookfield, Charter Hall, Transfield Holdings and Westpac, as well as various Commonwealth and NSW State government entities.
Consistently recognised by his peers as one of Australia's Best Lawyers in tax in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013. Rhys is a regular commentator and speaker on diverse GST-related issues and developments.
MinterEllison's REEP and Corporate M&A teams have been advising longstanding client Aveo Group Limited (Aveo) in relation to its recently announced acquisition of 100% of Freedom Aged Care Pty Ltd (Freedom) for $215.5 million comprising cash, scrip and assumption of debt. Freedom owns and operates more than 1000 units in 15 retirement communities across Australia, as well as a development pipeline of 533 units. The acquisition is a key component of Aveo's strategy to increase the levels of care and support services to its residents and designed to facilitate Aveo's target of growing its return on retirement assets. It is Aveo's first significant acquisition since adopting its pure retirement play strategy. The acquisition showcases MinterEllison's capacity to provide market-leading advice on a large-scale, complex transaction across jurisdictions and practice areas in the Heath, Aged Care and Retirement space.
Advised Gloucester Coal on its A$8bn merger with Yanzhou Coal Mining and its wholly owned subsidiary Yancoal Australia by scheme of arrangement. This was the biggest investment by a Chinese state-owned company in Australia's coal industry, continuing a trend of state-backed entities seeking to shore up China's resource security. It created one of Australia's largest listed mining companies, operating mines in NSW and Queensland and with investments in two coal export terminals – Wiggins Island in Gladstone and NCIG in Newcastle.
Advised Singtel Optus on the transfer of its coaxial cable and ancillary assets to NBN Co, to enable the accelerated roll-out of Australia’s National Broadband Network.
Acted together with Allen & Overy as joint legal advisers to the Lloyds Banking Group on the sale of its Australian asset finance business, Capital Finance Australia Ltd (CFAL), and its corporate loan portfolio, BOS International Australia Ltd (BOSI) to Westpac Banking Corporation for approximately A$1.55 billion in total.
Acted for Lidis Group as developer on the Lennox Bridge Carpark Redevelopment in Parramatta. The project involves the development of a riverfront precinct spanning both sides of Parramatta River, including foreshore parks and civic spaces, a discovery and convention centre, cafes and retail, and two residential towers (approximately 35,000 sqm GFA).
Advised NSW Government in relation to a major restructure of the State's non-metropolitan rail system which included an investment of A$800 million+ in rail infrastructure by the Commonwealth Government. The arrangements effectively incorporated 3000kms of NSW interstate and Hunter Valley mainline railway track under the same operation and management as the interstate standard gauge mainline railway track. We also subsequently advised on commercial arrangements in relation to the take up by ARTC of the Metropolitan Freight Network and the Southern Sydney Freight Line.
Acted for the winning consortium on the successfully closed Melbourne Convention Centre project, the largest proposed facility of this type in Australia with associated retail and commercial developments and public works. The A$1.2bn project includes a 5,000 seat convention centre, a five star Hilton hotel, office and residential tower, riverfront retail promenade and revitalised Maritime Museum.
Acted for Insurance Australia Group Limited (IAG) on the $1.85 billion acquisition of the Australian and New Zealand insurance underwriting businesses of Wesfarmers Limited, the number 1 and number 5 general insurers in Australia respectively. ACCC approval has been granted after close analysis but without the ACCC releasing a Statement of Issues.
Acted for the NSW Department of Transport & Infrastructure in the Sydney Ferries Market Review project. This was a high profile and politically sensitive project to implement the recommendations of the Walker report into the operation of Sydney Ferries.
Advised the New South Wales Government (NSW Treasury) on the refinancing of Port Botany and Port Kembla in NSW. The project was unique, involving the contemporaneous refinancing and long term lease of two major Australian ports. Our role included extensive legal analysis of the existing assets and businesses and the regulatory landscape; recommending a transaction structure; drafting special transaction legislation; asset restructuring; preparing extensive interrelated transaction documents; tender process and negotiations; and implementation under legal project management. The project was complex and very significant for NSW, with the transaction widely considered to establish a new benchmark in transaction preparation and execution.
Acted for Transport for NSW on the Franchising Sydney Ferries project. This follows on from acting for the NSW Department of Transport & Infrastructure in the Sydney Ferries Market Review project in 2010. This was a high profile and politically sensitive project to implement the recommendations of the Walker report to franchise the iconic operation of the ferries on Sydney harbour. It involved the drafting of service contracts and the conduct of a tender process, extensive due diligence, evaluation and negotiation with three private sector consortia and, ultimately, completion of the transaction with the preferred tenderer and transition from Sydney ferries to the new private sector operator.