Jeffrey Lai

AREAS OF EXPERTISE

Corporate Structuring and Restructuring; Corporate Advisory, Mergers and Acquisitions; Investment Funds; Domestic and International Business Expansion; Contractual Arrangements; Major Technology Projects.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor of Law (Hons.) – University of Auckland
• Bachelor of Commerce – University of Auckland
• Admitted to practice in New Zealand

SELECTED REPRESENTATIONS

• Acting for GD1, a leading NZ venture capital firm, in relation to the establishment of Fund 2 (a Taiwan-NZ co-fund domiciled in the Cayman Islands and backed by the Taiwanese and NZ governments) and Fund 3 (a NZ based fund backed by the NZ government).
• Acting for Matū, a deep tech science fund, on its fund establishment and investments, including the first ever public raising of capital through Catalist, a NZ licensed and regulated stock exchange designed for growth businesses.
• Acting for Triodent Holdings and its major shareholder on the sale of its international dental matrix business to a US multinational listed on the NASDAQ, including acting as a lead negotiator and providing strategic legal and commercial advice on the transaction.
• Acting for a leading NZ robotics company on its successful equity capital raising from leading international venture capital funds, changes to shareholder and governance arrangements, international contracts (including R&D contracts) with US and European multinationals, and its corporate re-domicile into an Irish company for further international growth.
• Acting on the acquisition of Orcon, a large nationwide broadband internet service provider from Kordia, a New Zealand government owned broadcast and telecommunications company, including acting on its acquisition funding, and its subsequent sale to a larger, integrated telecommunications service provider.
• Acting for the significant minority and management shareholders on the sale of their interests in BlueSky Pacific, a leading telecommunications company in Samoa and the Cook Islands, to a Fiji based telecommunications company.
• Acting for Tencent Holdings, the owners of WeChat, on the acquisition of a minority stake in a New Zealand based gaming company.
• Acting for the owners of Kiwi Steel, a leading NZ independent pre-painted steel roofing and steel products supply group of companies, on its management buy-out from SK Networks, a large South Korean conglomerate.
• Acting for Revera, a privately owned data centre, storage and services company that was subsequently acquired by Spark Digital, on its successful “All of Government” tender and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) master contract, including dealing with data centre, hosting, storage and security issues.
• Acting for an Australian listed media company on its acquisition of a New Zealand media production company.
• Acting for a privately owned NZ clean energy (biogas purification) technology company on its international operations, including its technology licensing and distribution contract model, licensing, manufacturing and distribution agreements with overseas counterparties, biogas project investments, and eventual sale to a UK based listed engineering company.
• Acting for a leading international app-based marketplace for premium licensed digital collectibles (NFTs).