Image of Marnie Fels

Marnie Fels

Partner

Marnie specialises in leveraged finance and private credit.

Marnie’s practice focuses on advising large cap and mid-market private equity sponsors, banks, private credit funds and other stakeholders in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region on M&A and other event-driven transactions. She has extensive experience advising on credit products favoured by private equity sponsors, including unitranche, holdco, mezzanine, covenant-lite and term loan B financings and other more traditional loan facilities.

Marnie is well known in Australia’s private equity sector, having been heavily involved in bringing together all types of funding packages for acquisitions, refinancings and recapitalisations.

Marnie is named in Asia Pacific Legal 500 as Next Generation Partner and as a Best Lawyer in Australia for Banking and Finance Law, Leveraged Buyouts and Private Equity.

Experience

Representative matters

ANZ on the financing for Next Capital’s acquisition of Funlab (previous firm experience).

Archer Capital on the financing for its acquisition of Quick Service Restaurants (now called Craveable Brands), Brownes Dairy and Gull service stations and the recapitalisation of Craveable Brands by way of an Australian Term Loan B (previous firm experience).

Bain Capital on its $3.5 billion acquisition of Virgin Australia Group by way of a deed of company arrangement and all related financing arrangements (previous firm experience).

Brookfield on a term loan B to finance its acquisition of La Trobe financial services business (previous firm experience).

Brookfield and its institutional co-investors, through a joint venture with Qube Holdings, on the acquisition financing for Asciano Limited's Patrick Terminals business for approximately A$2.9 billion by way of scheme of arrangement (previous firm experience).

CPE Capital on the financing for its acquisition of Golding Contractors and LCR Group (previous firm experience).

Livingbridge Australia on the financing for its acquisition of a significant stake in Smart Clinics and Better Medical (previous firm experience).

Liverpool Capital Partners on the financing for its acquisition of Seven Miles Coffee (previous firm experience).

Pacific Equity Partners on the financing of the acquisition by IntelliHUB Holdings Pty Ltd (a joint venture vehicle between Pacific Equity Partners and Landis + Gyr) of the Acumen electricity metering infrastructure business from Origin Energy Limited (previous firm experience).

QIC on the financing for its investment in Vector Metering, a smart metering business operating in New Zealand and Australia (previous firm experience).

Splend (vehicle subscription provider for rideshare drivers) on its asset backed mezzanine facility provided by MA Financial (previous firm experience).

The Growth Fund on the debt financing for its investments in Quantum Radiology, Fitness Passport, M&J Chicken's, My Pet Warehouse, Guest Group and Rovans Group (previous firm experience).

The Riverside Company on the acquisition financing for its investments in Waste Services Group, Energy Exemplar, Independent Living Services and Avance Clinical and EventsAir (previous firm experience).

A bidder in relation to the financing for its investment in the WestConnex toll road project in New South Wales (previous firm experience).

A bidder in relation to the financing for its acquisition of Axicom, a mobile telecommunications towers operator (previous firm experience).
 

Qualifications

Admissions

Admitted as a solicitor, New South Wales, Australia, 2001

Academic

Bachelor of Laws (with Distinction), University of Western Australia, 2000
Disclaimer
A&O Shearman was formed on May 1, 2024 by the combination of Shearman & Sterling LLP and Allen & Overy LLP and their respective affiliates (the legacy firms). Any matters referred to above may include matters undertaken by one or more of the legacy firms rather than A&O Shearman.