Commercial & Corporate

SGL's Commercial & Corporate team advises private businesses, family offices, investors and corporate clients on complex, bespoke and high-value commercial transactions.

Our work extends well beyond the preparation of commercial agreements. We advise on the strategy, structure, negotiation and execution of significant transactions, particularly where corporate, commercial, property, trust and family interests intersect.

We take a commercial and strategic approach, working closely with our clients and their accounting, tax, financial and other professional advisers where required to ensure the legal structure supports the broader commercial objective.

Our experience includes:

• Complex commercial agreements and transactions
• Corporate and business structuring and restructuring
• Shareholder, unitholder and partnership agreements
• Joint ventures and strategic alliances
• Capital raising and investment arrangements
• Private equity and venture capital transactions
• Distribution, licensing and agency agreements
• Supply, manufacturing and procurement arrangements
• Corporate governance and compliance
• Competition and consumer law
• Commercial due diligence
• Business succession and ownership arrangements
• Ecommerce and digital business

SGL advises on the acquisition, sale and restructuring of privately held businesses and significant commercial assets, including complex, bespoke and high-value transactions.

We understand that these transactions are rarely simply a matter of agreeing a price and documenting a sale. Ownership structures, tax considerations, funding, property, intellectual property, employees, existing shareholder arrangements, family interests and future succession can all form part of the transaction.

Our role is to understand the commercial objective, identify the material risks and structure and negotiate the transaction accordingly.

We advise on:

• Mergers and acquisitions
• Business and asset acquisitions and sales
• Share acquisitions and disposals
• High-value private transactions
• Complex and bespoke transaction structures
• Transaction structuring and strategy
• Heads of agreement and term sheets
• Share sale and business sale agreements
• Due diligence investigations and reporting
• Corporate restructures
• Management buyouts and buy ins
• Private equity transactions
• Venture capital investment
• Joint venture transactions
• Warranties, indemnities and transaction protections
• Completion and post completion arrangements

For family owned and privately held businesses, a transaction can also represent a significant wealth and succession event. SGL's broader capability allows the transaction to be considered alongside ownership structures, trusts, asset protection, estate planning and intergenerational succession.

Intellectual property, technology and data are increasingly integral to the value, operation and sale of a business.

SGL advises clients on the protection, ownership, commercialisation and use of intellectual property and technology, both in day to day business operations and as part of larger corporate and commercial transactions.

Our experience includes:

• Intellectual property ownership and commercialisation
• Trade marks, copyright, designs and confidential information
• Intellectual property licensing arrangements
• Technology development and procurement agreements
• Software, application and cloud based service agreements
• Ecommerce and online business arrangements
• Website terms and conditions
• Technology and internet businesses
• Distribution, reseller and licensing networks
• Manufacturing and supply of licensed products
• Collaborations, strategic alliances and joint ventures
• Sponsorship, marketing and endorsement agreements
• Social media and digital platforms
• Privacy and data protection
• Commercial arrangements involving data collection, sharing and use
• Electronic marketing and Spam Act compliance
• Transitional services arrangements