Straight from the source Welcome to another issue of Simpson Grierson's Source magazine. In shaping the content and focus of this issue, we've handed the microphone over to the market. In other words we've done quite a bit of listening lately. As we've done for the past several years, we've used independent market research to find out what the 'word on the street is'.

Contents

FYI - Snippets In late May, Australian travel and property management company, S8, announced an intention to make a takeover offer for Gullivers Travel Group. The Simpson Grierson Corporate team acted for Gullivers on the NZ$235 million deal.

Global reach - local touch Sixty per cent of New Zealand businesses are globally active. That's according to the findings of the recently-released Directions 2006 survey - Understanding Good Governance, which received more than 2000 responses from businesses around the country.

Steering a careful takeover path When the founder of New Zealand's retirement village industry wanted to sell his holding in listed company Metlifecare Limited, Simpson Grierson's Corporate team had to steer a careful path through some unusual 'drag along' provisions to successfully execute one of the more complicated strategic deals of 2005.

Young people. We're going large on their medium.

Insolvancy cases To date, few cases involving the PPSA have come before the courts, and Simpson Grierson has taken the lead role in two of the most recent and prominent of those cases.

The Commerce Commission gets personal, very personal The Commerce Act was set up to prohibit anti-competitive arrangements and behaviour. Examples of prohibited conduct include price fixing, market sharing arrangements and misuse of market power. The Commerce Commission enforces the Commerce Act and can bring legal claims for breach of the Act with serious consequences for companies and individuals.

Corporate W.O.F Compliance issues can hit an organisation very hard in the pocket and may do untold damage to brand and corporate reputation. Unfortunately compliance issues are just getting more complex. How then can corporate lawyers and senior management keep on top of the legal risks and obligations affecting their business and protect themselves against claims for non-compliance? One answer is by implementing a comprehensive, tailored and effective legal risk management programme.

Just not the good bits for sale? Simpson Grierson property law experts, Phillip Merfield, Partner, and Greg Allen, Senior Associate, review the introduction of the new Overseas Investment Act and highlight key issues for buyers and sellers alike. For more than a decade there has been a rapid escalation in the amount of overseas investment in New Zealand land. Some of this has been courted by government, business and the private sector, while much has come thanks to New Zealand's appeal as an investment option.

Arts Simpson Grierson is proud to continue its sponsorship with the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki in 2006.

Discovery obligations, how to keep afloat amidst a sea of paper One of the burdens of litigation is the obligation on both parties to 'discover' all relevant documents. This makes discovery one of the most time consuming and expensive parts of litigation. Yet sorting through the relevant documents is also a vital part of working through the merits of any claim - so it needs to be done, and done properly.

What keeps you up at night? In 2005, Simpson Grierson once again commissioned independent market research to measure client satisfaction and to better understand client and business needs. More than 200 organisations were surveyed. One particular question posed to the business community was: what are the key issues facing their organisation that may impact on the demand and type of legal services they would require in the future?

Money Laundering In a global context, New Zealand is not a major financial market. The war against terrorism might seem distant from New Zealand's shores, but its ripples affect the way we do business. Its impact is about to increase with the Government's recent commitment to more reforms to combat money laundering.

Get a move on Moving a business to a new premise can quickly become a complex and time consuming process. In may cases finding an optimum location is just the start of the journey and whether the project involves building, or moving into an existing property, there are innumerable pitfalls and legal challenges.

MasterFoods' moveable feast. After purchasing a factory site in Wanganui in 1993, the range and volume of MasterFoods' petcare products grew significantly, which in turn created challenges for the existing site.

Achievers Kevin Jaffe was appointed Head of Simpson Grierson's Commercial Department and Simpson Grierson Board Member at the start of 2006.

Winter escape to Kauri Cliffs Having been ranked as one of the top 100 courses in the world by Golf Magazine, Kauri Cliffs hardly needs any introduction to golfers. Every year, players from around the world come to New Zealand especially for a tee time on the par 72 championship course located on the stunning coastline of our "Winterless North".

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