Peter G Butler

Partner

Brisbane, Australia

Peter is a senior infrastructure and government advisory partner, the former managing partner of our Brisbane office, and is an elected member of our global Council.

Peter is an infrastructure and government advisory specialist. He advises on complex procurements, acquisitions and divestments of infrastructure assets and major projects, privatisation processes, and government asset and business restructurings.

Peter is named annually in the Australian Financial Review’s Best Lawyers list, and has been recognised in five categories - Construction/Infrastructure Law, Government Practice, Project Finance and Development, Banking & Finance, and Transportation. He has been named Best Lawyers 2018 Brisbane Transportation Law ‘Lawyer of the Year’ and Best Lawyers 2019 Brisbane Project Finance and Development ‘Lawyer of the Year’.

Peter has significant Australian and international experience advising government bodies, finance providers, project sponsors, contractors and investors across all aspects of major projects and infrastructure assets including:

Project structuring – commercial and legal structuring, feasibility assessments, business case development, risk assessment and project governance.
Strategic procurement – designing robust, defensible and flexible tender and procurement processes to withstand challenge and deliver superior outcomes for government clients, and assisting bidding consortia to respond and meet government requirements and structure winning bids.
Project delivery – project delivery models including helping clients navigate market-led proposal and exclusive dealing frameworks, development, construction and O&M agreements and equity arrangements.
Privatisations, asset restructures and sales – acting for Governments and private sector bidders on complex multi-stage tender processes for greenfield and brownfield infrastructure assets and project and asset restructurings.
Government advisory – strategic commercial and legal advice to government and public sector bodies on sensitive legal and policy matters.

Background

Peter holds a Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Laws from the University of Queensland. He is admitted in Australia and in England & Wales and has worked in Australia, the UK, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

Peter works for public and private sector clients across sectors including infrastructure, forestry, energy, water, waste, real estate, Government and public sector, health, education, telecommunications, transport, roads, rail and ports.

Peter supports Youngcare and other not-for-profit and community organisations through pro-bono legal assistance.

Experience & expertise

Selected matters

Government privatisations, restructurings and sales

advising Bain Capital on its negotiations with the Queensland Government for funding support relating to its acquisition of Virgin Airlines
advising the successful Lonsdale Consortium comprising the Future Fund, QIC, Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) and OMERS on the $9.7 billion acquisition of a 50-year lease of the Port of Melbourne from the Victorian Government, the largest privatisation in the transport sector undertaken to date in Australia
advising the Queensland Government and New South Wales Government on their procurement across Government departments and agencies of whole of government banking services and products
advising the Queensland Government on the scoping study and proposed sale of Stanwell Corporation, CS Energy Limited and Ergon Energy Queensland Pty Ltd
advising the New South Wales Department of Finance and Services on the divestment of 6 office buildings as part of Tranche 1 of the divestments by the New South Wales Property Asset Utilisation Taskforce
advising the Queensland Government on the $603 million sale of Forestry Plantations to Hancock Timber Resource Group including preparing the scoping study, developing the post-sale legislative scheme, designing the sale structure and managing the competitive multi-stage tender process
advising Campbell Global and the Commonwealth Government’s Future Fund on their purchase of the South Australian Government’s plantation forestry assets privatised through a competitive tender process
advising the Queensland Government on restructuring of the Queensland TAFE sector including asset and contract due diligence and the transfer of assets by way of transfer regulation from the State to the newly established Queensland Training Assets Management Authority, and advising QTAMA on its operational readiness for a contestable market
advising the Queensland Government on the establishment of the Southbank Institute as a statutory authority, including the statutory framework for the transfer of assets from the State to the new authority
advising the New South Wales Crown Solicitor and NSW Treasury on corporate structuring arrangements for the WestConnex toll road project in Sydney
advising Allconnex Water on the $AUD 4 billion transfer of its business and assets to Gold Coast City Council, Redland City Council and Logan City Council, and Allconnex Water’s subsequent dissolution

Infrastructure and PPPs

advising the sponsors on its market led proposal to the Queensland Government to develop one of the world’s largest renewable energy projects
advising a bidding consortium on its bid for the design, construction, operation, maintenance and finance of the $5.4 billion Cross River Rail Tunnel, Stations and Development PPP
advising Transurban on the $512 million Logan Enhancement Project, the first private sector proposal to be assessed and approved under the Queensland Government’s Market-Led Proposal framework
advising the Queensland Government or bidding consortiums on all of the major metropolitan transport projects undertaken in Queensland in recent years including the Gateway Upgrade Project, Airport Link PPP, Clem 7 PPP, Legacy Way, Go Between Bridge and Gold Coast Rapid Transit light rail PPP
advising the Queensland Government on a major IT project procured under the QITC framework for the Department of Education
advising the Queensland Government on construction and operations aspects of the SEQ Schools PPP project, the Queensland Schools PPP project and the Southbank TAFE PPP project
advising the Queensland Government on the $2 billion Sunshine Coast University Hospital PPP Project and major collocated private hospital project. The project was recognised as the Asia Pacific PPP Deal of the year
advising a Government Owned Corporation on the sale of the Toowoomba water pipeline to Toowoomba Regional Council including issues arising from the Queensland floods
advising Transurban on the A$55 million upgrade to the Inner City Bypass in Brisbane, the first successful unsolicited proposal to Brisbane City Council to reach close under their market led proposal policy
advising Queensland Motorways on its acquisition of tolling rights to the Legacy Way and Go Between Bridge toll projects, including a deferred consideration mechanism based upon actual traffic volumes
advising the Toowoomba Regional Council on a major upgrade of the Toowoomba airport, commercial air services arrangements and various local government and Commonwealth regulatory requirements
advising the Art Gallery of New South Wales on the design competition for the landmark Sydney Modern Project
advising the Queensland Government on the Business Case for the Royal Children’s Hospital Site redevelopment including exploring outsourcing of clinical health services
advising a Government Owned Corporation on alliance contracting arrangements for the development of various pipelines forming the State’s water grid
advising on the construction of the Dalby ethanol project, Australia’s first purpose-built, grain-to-fuel ethanol plant delivered on an EPC basis
advising Macquarie Bank on its bid to the Queensland Government to acquire the Cairns and Mackay airports and a major Australian airport owner and operator to acquire the Whitsunday and Sunshine Coast airports