Australia’s merger laws have been refined, bringing greater certainty to minority investments and more flexibility when completion is delayed. We explain the key changes and what buyers and sellers in mid-market transactions need to consider before their next deal.
Proposed discretionary trust tax changes could leave business owners facing an important choice. The Federal Government has proposed a 30% minimum tax on discretionary trusts from 1 July 2028. But a new option in the draft legislation could allow some trusts to avoid the tax without restructuring. The trade-off? Trustees may need to give up the flexibility to decide how …
Crypto fundraising regulation in Australia already exists through broad financial services laws. The more difficult question is whether businesses have enough certainty about how those laws apply as a token-based project develops. On 18 August 2026, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed Regulation Crypto Assets, a new framework designed to make it easier for crypto projects to raise …
A management buyout (MBO) occurs when a company’s existing management team acquires the business from its current owners, often where a founder is looking to retire or a corporate parent is divesting a non-core division. For private mid-market businesses in Australia, management buyouts can offer a compelling alternative to a trade sale. An MBO can preserve continuity for staff, clients …
This week, in a federal courthouse in Oakland, California, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman took the stand in Musk v Altman — a jury trial over OpenAI’s restructure of its nonprofit-controlled for-profit arm. Elon Musk, an early funder, accuses Altman, OpenAI President Greg Brockman and Microsoft of breaching charitable trust by allowing nonprofit value to be diverted into a for-profit structure …
Australia’s new mandatory merger control regime is now firmly part of the Australian M&A landscape. Commencing on 1 January 2026, the regime replaced Australia’s historically voluntary merger clearance model with a mandatory and suspensory system for acquisitions that meet relevant notification thresholds. In practical terms, parties to notifiable acquisitions must now notify the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and …
