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The departure of Jason Boyes last year, who left for an in-house position at Infratil, had a few observers questioning the firm's capacity in capital markets. Clients however still have a strong belief in the team's capability: "It's high-quality service, broad range, corporate work, capable staff and experienced partners... I regard them very highly," says one. Another agrees: "Buddle Findlay is top-notch and extremely good, I would say that you get solid and reliable advice. I think that they're probably one of the leaders in the market."

The past year saw the firm advise Greenstone Energy on a senior bond issue of up to NZ$100 million ($82 million) senior secured listed bonds, with the ability to accept oversubscriptions of up to NZ$100 million in the conduit funding structure.

Other deals included advising Westpac on its covered bond programme. This NZ$8.8 billion transaction was the second ever covered bond programme established by a New Zealand bank to issue to European investors.

The team also acted for Infratil Infrastructure Bonds. Work included issuing two tranches of unsecured, unsubordinated convertible fixed interest rate infrastructure bonds of NZ$100 million due 2016 and NZ$50 million due 2017.

"One of Buddle Findlay's strengths is its efficient project management skills and ability to take over a legal process and manage the client and its lawyers", says a satisfied client. "In addition, they have very good knowledge, which means that their expertise is applied as effectively as possible, which I have not always seen from other firms in different contexts."

Another long-standing client with the firm comments: "Buddle Findlay acts for nearly all areas of our business. [It] has the full range of technical expertise that we require."

The departure of Jason Boyes to take up a general counsel position with Infratil last year was countered by the firm's hire of Simon Jensen as a special counsel. The team still boasts, Gene Turner who one client describes as "an exceptionally able lawyer, who uses his deep knowledge to advise us across a range of banking and corporate/commercial issues". The same client continues: "He has also seamlessly taken over the main relationship role and become our trusted adviser. Gene is not afraid to tell us where we need to improve and is a well respected name in the market."

A key highlight last year saw the team advise Bank of India on becoming a registered bank in New Zealand. Registered bank status is difficult to achieve in New Zealand with the Reserve Bank of New Zealand imposing high thresholds for compliance. Bank of India is the only bank to have been registered in New Zealand in the last year and joins only 19 others in the country.

Another highlight was advising the security agent for the senior lenders and the trustee of the owners in relation to the Yellow Pages Group's debt for equity restructuring. The significant debt for equity restructure involved a total debt write off of NZ$1.05 billion ($811.5 million), with about 40 bank lenders, financial institutions and funds involved.

"Buddle Findlay is our preferred legal partner. They take a proactive approach to the legal process and in almost all cases drive the legal process for a transaction", says a client. A highly regarded practitioner comments "I like Buddle Findlay because of their technical expertise", while a client adds: "They are definitely within the top three in Auckland, others being Chapman Tripp and Bell Gully."

The team advised Olam International, a global supply chain manager and processor of agricultural products and food ingredients, on its successful takeover of NZ Farming Systems Uruguay (NZFSU), acquiring 77.9% of the New Zealand Stock Exchange (NZX) listed dairy farming company.

The takeover offer brings Olam's total investment in NZFSU to NZ$120.3 million ($98 million). The initial cash offer price was increased by Olam following Union Agriculture's announcement that it intended to make a competing bid at a price higher than Olam's original offer price. The Olam takeover of NZFSU represents the only successful public takeover on the NZX in recent years.

Another notable highlight was advising Japanese food group Imanaka on the purchase of food ingredients manufacturer Cedenco Foods, which is in receivership and liquidation. The transaction involved dealing with very short timeframes in a competitive process on top of the usual complications involved in acquiring receivership assets.

To round off a busy year, the team also acted on a number of other deals including advising the vendors on the sale of Cream Media to Greenstone Pictures, advising Aon NZ on the acquisition of the brokering business of Herbert Insurance Group and advising the vendors on the sale of the management contract to run Vector Arena.

"Buddle Findlay has one of New Zealand's pre-eminent legal teams for corporate recovery and restructuring, renowned for its depth of experience, responsiveness and accuracy," says a long-standing client. "[It] has partners, resources and talent of the highest order. The advice and service is first class," says the client.

With the highly regarded David Perry, considered "the leading restructuring lawyer in the whole of New Zealand without a doubt", leading the team, it has been a busy twelve months. The team's strength in depth also extends to Scott Abel, "another highly rated restructuring lawyer" according to a peer.

The past year's highlight was advising the trustee in respect of the collapse of the NZ$1.8 billion ($1.5 billion) South Canterbury Finance empire. This high profile complex receivership is the largest failure of a financial institution in the last 20 years.

Another notable highlight was acting for receivers of Matarangi Beach Estates, the developer of a resort on the Coromandel Peninsula. This complex receivership required working through Significant Resource Management Act and Health and Safety issues involving the airstrip and golf course, and the future development of the residential resort.