We imagine that the senior management at Slaters & Shine aren’t going to be happy that a busybody AFR journo was within earshot !
The AFR reports…
Shine and Slater & Gordon, the country’s second- and third-largest plaintiff law firms, have held high-level discussions about the potential for a merger that would create a new player to challenge the dominance of market leader Maurice Blackburn.
Senior board members of the two listed law firms met in Brisbane two weeks ago and were overheard by The Australian Financial Reviewdiscussing a tie-up between the companies.
In the discreet, below-ground Brew cafe in Brisbane’s CBD, two senior representatives from each firm, including Shine chairman Tony Bellas and Slaters chairman James MacKenzie met for more than an hour.
During the meeting the group discussed adviser appointments for the deal, with one person warning that a large firm such as Macquarie should not be used due to the risk of the merger being leaked.
Although the Financial Review is not suggesting that a deal is imminent, the market value of the two firms suggest any tie-up would be close to a merger of equals. Although Slaters was valued as high as $2.5 billion in March 2015, it is now worth $129 million, while Shine’s market capitalisation is $113 million.
