Nick Humphrey is one of Australia's leading corporate and private equity lawyers. He is a Parmer and National Head of M&A and Private Equity at K&L Gates. He sits on t he advisory board of an accounting firm and an angel investment fund.
Nick has worked in leading corporate groups throughout his distinguished career, including Mallesons Stephen Jaques and Norton Rose in Sydney, and the private equity group at Clifford Chance in London.
He works with some of Australia's leading private equity investors, including Macquarie Capital, Anacacia Capital, Helmsman Capital, The Growth Fund, Quadrant Private Equity and CHAMP Ventures, as well as advising on a broad range of complex corporate transactions.
Nick focuses on partnering with institutions and private equity funds (and their portfolios) and is very experienced in negotiating large and complex acquisitions, divestments and investments, including structuring share sales, negotiating shareholder and subscription agreements and conducting due diligence investigations. He has acted on some of Australia's highest profile deals including the sale of Gloria Jeans, Macquarie Capital's investment into 3P Learning (Mathletics), the sale of Diona Engineering co Calibre and CHAMP Ventures buyout of Lorna Jane.
Nick is the author of eight best-selling business books including the Penguin Small Business Guide, The Business Startup Guide, the Australia1J Private Equity Handbook and Maverick Executive: Strategies for Driving Clarity, Effectiveness and focus. He has published numerous articles on private equity and M&A in the Australian Private Equity and Venture Capital Journal (AVCJ). These include "Responsible Investing", "Strategies for Private Equity Funds in Competitive Bid Situations", "Trends in Structuring Private Equity Deals Post GFC", "Key Issues in Insuring an M&A Deal", and "Key Structuring Issues in Industry Roll-ups" .
He is regularly asked to provide commentary on private equity to the media, including the Australian Financial Review, Sydney Morning Herald, Financial Times and Wall Street Journal.
Nick is a member of the Australian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association Limited (A VeAL), the Institute of Company Directors (fellow), American Bar Association (Private Equity Committee) and Financial Services Institute of Australasia (FINSIA). He was previously a member of the Corporate Finance Advisory Panel for FINSIA.
Nick is also the chairman of the Australian Growth Company Awards, a program launched in partnership with Deloitte, Westpac, Macquarie Bank and AVCAL in 2012 to recognise innovation, sustainability and integrity. He has been recognised by several influential awards and surveys as one of Australia's leading private equity and mergers and acquisitions lawyers. Among these are PLC, International Financial Law Review, Euromoney, Australian Financial Review, Chambers and Australasian Legal Business (ALB) awards.
