Tony Dhar |Partner

Tony has extensive experience in mergers, schemes and transfers of business for specialised financial institutions regulated by both APRA's prudential requirements and ASIC's licensing regime. This includes credit unions, friendly societies, general insurers and superannuation entities.

His transaction expertise includes demutualisations of friendly societies and credit unions, establishment of regulated non-operating holding companies, ASX listings, court and member approval processes for changes of status under governing legislation, Financial Sector (Shareholdings) Act approvals, Insurance Act approvals, Corporations Act member approvals, establishing trusts for the entitlements of unverified members, updating constitutions of friendly societies and credit unions, management rights’ sales, and advising on Board governance and duties.

Tony combines his specialist financial services knowledge with transactional experience in investments spanning equities, direct property, infrastructure, long-short derivatives and event-driven structured products, and bonds. Tony has also acted on a wide range of transactions for institutional investors and government bodies, including open-end and close-end fund formations, private merger and acquisition transactions, co-investments and investment committees.

Tony couples his expert financial services acumen with transactional involvement in fund formation of dual-trust structure private equity trusts and related investment acquisitions and disposals.

Tony has an extensive knowledge of corporate regulations, and the general law of equity and statutory regimes for trust regulation. He regularly advises on regulatory and governance matters to registered and unregistered managed investment schemes, superannuation trusts, private unit trusts, charitable trusts and foundations. Tony deals widely in major transactions, fiduciary duties, probity issues, and compliance with statutory regulations and legislation.

Tony brings specialist financial services expertise to his transactional experience in investments for direct property, utilities, infrastructure and forestry. Tony has acted on public market transactions for listed A-REITS and infrastructure funds including capital raisings, restructures, stapling, and open-end fund formations. He has also acted on private market transactions for close-end fund formations of timberland investments, infrastructure, direct property trusts, and property developments.

Tony has extensive experience with product development, fund formation and restructures, acting for responsible entities and other issuers. He also has a strong reputation acting on notes issues (for borrowers or trustees) and for listed investment companies. Tony is known for his practical application of the technical requirements of financial services laws and rules for regulatory compliance and disclosure.

Tony has extensive experience handling superannuation related issues arising from private and public merger transactions, and advising trustees on investment manager and outsourcing, successor fund transfers and their statutory duties. He has also advised superannuation trustees on their obligations to recover unpaid contributions from an insolvent principal employer, and acted for directors of an equal representation trustee where APRA made a statutory appointment of a trustee receiver.