Bio

John Williamson-Noble is a partner in Gilbert + Tobin’s Corporate Advisory group and has been with the firm since 1995. John has advised on transactions which, at the time, were Australia’s largest IPO (Qantas), merger (Westpac and St. George) and private equity deal (KKR’s Brambles deal). He has been recognised as a leading lawyer in mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, corporate governance and private equity in a range of industry guides. He regularly advises on corporate governance issues. John has recently advised Australian Clinical Labs on its hostile, reverse, scrip takeover bid for Healius Limited to create a $2.2 billion pathology group, United Malt Group in relation to its scheme of arrangement to implement the $2 billion bid from Malteries Soufflet, Calculator Australia in relation to the $3.0 billion de-stapling of Abacus Storage King, Australia’s largest listed renewable energy company on its defence in the contested $1.2 billion takeover, GrainCorp limited on its $3.0 billion demerger, Cardno Limited on its demerger, Coca-Cola Amatil on the joint acquisition (with The Coca-Cola Company) of a 45% equity stake in Made Group and Crescent Capital on the acquisition of CSR’s national Viridian glass business. John's publications include The Float Guide, The Company Directors Checklist, The Company Secretary Checklist (for both Listed and Proprietary Companies), The Corporate Governance Implementation Plan, The Institute of Company Directors module on Board Performance and the Australian chapter of LBR’s books - "The Corporate Governance Review" and "The Private Equity Review". He is also Joint Editor of the International Bar Association's Global M+A Guide and Float Guide. John is past-Chair of the Corporate and M+A Committee of the International Bar Association (the world’s leading organisation of international lawyers) and a member of the investment committee of the private equity fund, Crescent Capital Partners. John is ranked by Chambers Asia Pacific Equity Capital Markets and Private Equity and by IFLR 1000 as a leading lawyer in the area of mergers and acquisitions. Best Lawyers has named John as Sydney Lawyer of the Year for Sydney Financial Institutions. John is also recognised by Best Lawyers as a leading lawyer in Corporate Law, Mergers and Acquisitions Law, Corporate/Governance Practice, Equity Capital Markets Law, Private Equity Law, Leveraged Buyouts and Venture Capital Law.