KWM Podcasts
Welcome to King & Wood Mallesons' podcast channel. Here you can browse and listen to all our content - the latest cases, legal issues, market trends and insights from our practice groups, conversational deep dives with our leaders and people of note, and a sense of perspective on what we do - and why - with our responsible business team and people from across the firm, our clients and more. Enjoy!
KWM Podcasts
Brickworks and Soul Patts: Underneath the ‘top-hat’
In this episode of the It’s Public podcast, Daniel Natale sits down with David Friedlander, Jennifer Cheung and Rob Kelly to discuss the landmark $14 billion Brickworks–Soul Patts merger - a deal that ended more than half a century of cross-ownership. The conversation explores how the parties found valuation common ground in a scrip-for-scrip transaction, and how capital markets stepped up to support the deal.
They discuss:
- The history of the cross-shareholding and how it endured for more than five decades (despite criticism for limiting transparency and shareholder value)
- The 2025 merger itself and the innovative ‘top hat’ structure
- The $1.4 billion capital raising that supported the merger
- The current ASX Listing Rules consultation on shareholder approval requirements – and how this could pave the way for more deals of this kind.
Read the full third edition of It’s Public here: It's Public - KWM