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The Gilbert + Tobin equity capital markets' team is seen by the market as on the rise and the trend of constant expansion in the past two years has continued with the hire of Peter Cook from Mallesons Stephen Jaques and Neil Pathak from Freehills.

The new additions have drawn attention in the market, one rival says: "With the hiring of Peter Cook I see Gilbert + Tobin rising the ladder in the coming years."

Cook was formerly one of Mallesons Stephen Jaques' most senior partners in the equity area and is an adviser to many of the top global investment banks active in the market. He has also acted on many of Australia's largest capital raisings and, as one client says, brings "a wealth of experience and knowledge" to the firm.

Advising one of their biggest clients Credit Suisse, the team acted on multiple transactions with value up to A$450 million. These transactions include the underwritten entitlement offer and placement by Altona Mining, underwritten placement announced by Cockatoo Coal and Industrea, IPO of Kula Gold and the underwritten placement by Eastern Star Gas.

One longstanding client of the firm commented: "I generally avoid recommending law firms as I find the level of service can vary greatly from one experience to the next. However I recommended Gilbert + Tobin without hesitation to a number of colleagues and clients as I have enjoyed a consistently high level of service coupled with practical and commercial advice."

The Gilbert + Tobin debt team "have been exceptionally good" and possess "excellent technical ability combined with magic circle experience", according to one client.

This Duncan McGrath led practice advised Australia and New Zealand Banking Group and Westpac as arrangers and lead managers in a highlight transaction. The complex transaction involved a $378 million fixed rate medium term issuance by Australia Pacific Airports under its newly established $1.62 billion MTN programme.

Gilbert + Tobin is appreciated by its clients with one commenting that "the team is very prompt and responsive, so you're not left waiting. If there is a delay, Gilbert + Tobin will inform you that additional research is being done".

The past year saw the team advising Lloyds TSB as the arranger in regard to securities issued by Headingley residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) 2011-1, a securitisation special purpose vehicle (SPV) established in the UK. This was the first Kangaroo RMBS issued in the Australian capital markets.

Gilbert + Tobin is "very knowledgeable, very experienced, and willing to come up with ideas that may be outside the box" and "their advice is always professional, timely and commercial," comments a client.

Acting for major organisations including Australia's top four domestic banks the firm is making an effort to build up its practice further in banking. The team is led by John Schembri, a very "technically sound individual" according to one peer, "who has the ability to make the most complicated matters simple". He has been active in the equity bridge space advising a number of the leading private equity funds and lenders in relation to the provision of debt facilities to bridge fund equity raisings.

The firm is advising Pacific Equity Partners and related funds worth A$200 million as shareholders and secured creditors of REDgroup Retail (the owner of Borders Books, Whitcoulls and Angus & Robertson in Australia and New Zealand), which is in administration. Another significant highlight saw partner Nick Grambas, "always on top of the matter at hand" according to one client, advise Macarthur Water Pty (Macarthur), on the ten year extension of the existing Water Filtration Agreement with Sydney Water Corporation and an A$85 million additional project finance facility. The deal also involved changes to underlying project documents, including the operation and maintenance agreement and the sale of UU Australia Operations Holding interest in MW Australia to Mitsubishi Consortium.

Gilbert + Tobin significantly boosted its presence in M&A this year through the lateral hires of Tony Bancroft from Mallesons Stephen Jaques and Neil Pathak from Freehills. The market will wait to see what impact the duo can make in the future.

Blackstone's $9.4 billion acquisition of Centro Group's US operations had Gilbert + Tobin advising on the Australian aspects of the transaction which involved Blackstone entering into a binding stock purchase agreement with the Centro Group and its managed funds. This transaction represents one of the largest real estate and private equity transactions in Australia in recent times.

One client describes the firm as "very crisp and organised and professional", adding that "they have an approach which reflects client interest first". Another client says that "Gilbert + Tobin provides timely and concise advice and for these reasons I would not hesitate to recommend Gilbert + Tobin to other arrangers".

The firm advised Carlyle on the corporate aspects relating to its acquisition in Healthscope. The corporate aspects of the transaction included consortium and shareholder arrangements, equity structuring, pre-bid stakes and scheme implementation. This transaction was the first multi-billion dollar private equity transaction since the global financial crisis and is the first major Australian public-to-private acquisition by private equity since 2007.

Another deal not to be overlooked was advising of Shell Energy Holdings Australia, a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell (Shell). This transaction involved the partial sale of Shell's stake in Woodside Petroleum (Woodside) under an underwritten sell-down of approximately A$3.3 billion ($3.5 billion) representing the largest unwritten block trade completed in Australia's history.

Referred to by a client as having "stood out as being very efficient and knowledgeable in this area of practice", Gilbert + Tobin, led by Gina Cass-Gottlieb, remains one of the strongest competition teams in Australia.

Cass-Gottlieb principally advises and acts for clients on large-scale commercial transactions with a competition law application and also specialises in anti-trust and economic regulatory advices. Rival partners comment that "she is the top tier amongst the top competition lawyers", while another client went further, suggesting that "she can go to any law firm and the team will instantly become top tier".

With a strong presence in New South Wales (NSW) the team advised the State treasury in the preparation of a model gentrader contract. This transaction was one of the largest privatisation projects in Australia and the process raised a full range of competition law issues with the NSW Government's Electricity Reform Strategy.

Another highlight again saw the team advising the NSW Government when SITA Australia acquired WSN Environmental Solutions. This transaction was quite complex because of WSN's unique position in waste disposal markets in NSW which creating a complex vertical integration issue.

The Gilbert + Tobin project finance team led by John Schembri has been receiving rave reviews for being "very knowledgeable, very experienced and willing to come up with ideas that may be outside the box". Another satisfied client added: "I find that they're very crisp and organised and professional. They have an approach which reflects client interest first, so they work from a client's position and utility."

Last year saw the team advising the financers and drafting all of the financing documents in relation to the A$3.75 billion ($4 billion) proposed bid by Queensland Coal Industry Rail Group (QCIRG) for certain QR National assets.