Herbert Smith Freehills advises Adairs on its A$80 million acquisition of Focus on Furniture

Herbert Smith Freehills’ private M&A team has advised Adairs on its A$80 million acquisition of Focus on Furniture.

Adairs is a leading home furnishings omni-channel retailer with a strong track record of profitability. Its acquisition of Focus on Furniture will allow Adairs to expand its product offering and exposure in the furniture and bedding retail industry.

The Herbert Smith Freehills team was led by partner Andrew Clyne, senior associate Nicolas Lee and solicitors Shonie Kaushik and Katherine Duong.

Partner Martin MacDonald, senior associate Melanie Chan and solicitor Gemma Pastellas advised Adairs on the financing aspects.

The team was supported by a number of lawyers across its Australian offices including Co-Head of Venture Capital (Australia) Elizabeth Henderson, partners Tim McEwen, Mark Clifton, Jacqueline Wootton and Anthony Wood, special counsel Crystal Sanders, senior associates Julia Orbach, Tess Mierendorff, Patrick Clark, Graeme Tanner, Jennifer Wong, and solicitors Samuel Gonski, Olivia Purcell, Greta Morand, Ling Zhu, Joseph Dean, Madeleine Ryan, Jessica Nashed, Lucy Halliday, Heather Di Pietro, Ashley Seah and Gila Segall.

Andrew Clyne said: “We were delighted to assist Adairs on its strategic acquisition of Focus on Furniture which will allow it to progress its vision of building the leading home furnishings group in Australia and New Zealand.”

This deal is another example of Herbert Smith Freehills’ market-leading work in Australian M&A transactions. Other recent examples include advising:

• Adairs Limited on its NZ$80 million acquisition of Mocka Group from its founders;
• FoodStorm on its sale to Instacart; and
• On the A$125 million merger of thedockyard and Ansarada and re-listing of the merged entity on the ASX.