About Ari
Ari Bendet is a Senior Associate in the firm’s Corporate and M&A group. He has a particular focus on private and public M&A, capital markets, private equity and corporate governance.
Ari has significant experience in complex and large-scale corporate transactions across various industry sectors including technology, hospitality, healthcare, infrastructure and financial services. He acts for a diverse range of commercial clients, including ASX 100 companies, private equity firms and large privately-held businesses.
Ari graduated from Monash University with a Bachelor of Commerce and a Bachelor of Laws with first class honours. He joined the firm in 2021. Prior to joining Arnold Bloch Leibler, Ari was a Senior Associate in the M&A / PE team at Allens. Ari has also spent time in BGH Capital's legal team on secondment.
Ari is recognised by Best Lawyers® International in the areas of Corporate Law and M&A Law.
'One to Watch' for Corporate Law and M&A Law
Practice focus
Ari's practice focuses on the following areas:
- public takeovers, schemes and mergers
- private M&A
- private equity
- stakeholder agreements, including partnership, shareholder and joint venture agreements
- capital markets, including IPOs
- listed and non-listed corporate governance, compliance and advisory
- shareholder activism, and
- general commercial and corporate advice.
Experience
Ari has acted on a range of corporate and commercial matters, including:
Public M&A transactions
- View Media Group: on its off-market takeover of realestateview.com.au
- ELMO Software: on its $486 million buyout by K1 Investment Management by way of scheme of arrangement
- BGH Capital: in relation to:
- its $468 million acquisition of Village Roadshow Limited by way of scheme of arrangement (whilst on secondment)
- its acquisition of Abano Healthcare Limited by way of scheme of arrangement (whilst on secondment), and
- Couche-Tard: on its proposed $8.6 billion buyout of Caltex.
Private M&A transactions
- Alceon: on its investment in Boss Engineering, representing Alceon’s largest private equity investment to date
- Retailors Ltd: on its acquisition of Retail Prodigy Group Pty Ltd, the partner and operator of Nike and Samsung stores across Australia and New Zealand, and the online retail operator for Mattel in Australia
- InstantScripts: on its $135 million sale to Australian Pharmaceutical Industries (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Wesfarmers Limited)
- Super Housing Partnerships: on the establishment of its build-to-rent housing platform and its $240 million investment from industry superannuation fund, HESTA
- Insurance Brands Australia: on its sale to Steadfast Group for $301 million
- StarRez: on a significant strategic growth investment from global technology investment firm, Vista Equity Partners
- Morrison & Co and consortium comprising Future Fund, CSC and Sunsuper: on the consortium’s $2.8 billion acquisition of a 49% stake in Telstra’s InfraCo Towers
- AustralianSuper: on its acquisition of a 70% interest in Optus Towers for $1.9 billion
- ANZ: on its $3.8 billion divestment of its wealth business
- KKR: on its $3.14 billion acquisition of Arnott’s, as well as numerous bolt-on acquisitions
- Brookfield and its portfolio company Healthscope: on the integration of Healthscope’s private hospitals nationally with the public health system in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic
- Future Fund: on a number of private equity co-investments, and
- KKR and its portfolio company Australian Venue Co. (AVC): on the establishment of AVC’s Queensland hotels joint venture with Coles.
Capital markets
- Honey Insurance: on its $108 million Series A funding round – the third-largest on record for an Australian tech company
- Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners: on its exit from PEXA via a $3.3 billion IPO following a competitive dual track process, and
- KKR and its portfolio company Australian Venue Co. (AVC): on AVC’s proposed IPO.
Awards & recognition
- Ari is recognised as a leading lawyer by Best Lawyers® International for Corporate Law and M&A Law.
- Ari was selected as Australasian Lawyer’s ‘Rising Star’ for both 2022 and 2023.
- Ari received the Excellence Award in the Young Private Practice Lawyer of the Year category in the 2020 Australasian Law Awards.
