Infrastructure

The infrastructure sector spans a wide range of essential assets providing vital services to communities and businesses in cities and regional areas - from airports and tollways to power stations and hospitals. Infrastructure projects are by their nature large scale, complex undertakings; corporates and governments require extensive and expert advice on privatisation and infrastructure deals to ensure their successful completion.

Proven experience

Deacons' Infrastructure team is recognised for our:

• proven track record of working successfully with major national and international companies and government agencies on a wide range of infrastructure projects
• knowledge of the special needs of many industry sectors and associated infrastructure developments, and
• sound understanding of Government policy, reform and decision-making processes - a vital edge in this complex sector.

Our clients include international and local corporates, energy utilities, mining, rail, ports, airports and government agencies, telecommunications companies, financiers and regulators.

Our services

The diverse projects we've been involved in demonstrate the breadth of our services:

• Major projects: managing all legal aspects of major infrastructure project development including energy supply agreements, technology supply agreements, construction agreements, financial arrangements and government approvals
• Privatisations: advice and drafting of contractual documentation in relation to the restructuring, corporatisation and sale of major Government infrastructure operations
• Public/private partnerships:  advice on financing and structuring of public/private infrastructure initiatives and preparation of associated contractual documents
• Power generation facilities: advice at all levels of the Australian power generation industry including generators, distributors, transmitters, purchasers, developers, financiers and governments; advice on renewable energy issues and credits and the creation of high volume power purchase agreements
• Transport:  advice on primary maintenance and supply agreements, agreements with the State and tripartite agreements with financiers; development of various construction and engineering documents and contracts, and assistance in numerous negotiations in the transport industry
• Pipelines:  advice on financing and constructing pipeline projects, including construction documentation, dispute resolution, land acquisitions, contractual advice, preparation of service agreements and reviewing and advising on sale legislation
• Industrial developments:  preparing contracts for warehouse and distribution facilities in relation to their design, construction, materials installation and general maintenance
• Process plants:  construction advice, drafting, negotiating and designing onshore and offshore maintenance and construction contracts.

• Legal update: All Aboard - The Draft Pilbara Railways (Third Party Haulage) Regime

  On 10 June 2008, the Pilbara Rail Access Interdepartmental Committee (PRAIC) released a draft of the Pilbara Railways (Third Party Haulage) Regime (TPH Regime), along with a public consultation paper.

  25 Jun 08 Jehann Mendis

• Legal update: New .au Domain Name Transfer Policy from 1 June 2008

  In last month’s Legal Update on Upcoming Changes to .au Domain Name Transfer Policy we noted that the Australian domain name administrator (auDA) had approved an implementation plan for a new policy on the transfer on .au domain name licences. auDA has now confirmed that the new policy will take effect on 1 June 2008.

  18 Apr 08 Michael Park

• Legal update: New Guidance Note issued by the Takeovers Panel on equity derivatives

  On 11 April 2008, the Takeovers Panel (Panel) released Guidance Note 20 - Equity Derivatives (Guidance Note) outlining when, and in what circumstances, the use of equity derivatives may constitute unacceptable circumstances and require disclosure to the market.

  17 Apr 08 Robert Sultan, Shane Bilardi , Natalie Trezise

• Legal update: Upcoming changes to .au domain name transfer policy

  The Australian domain name administrator (auDA) recently announced that it has approved an implementation plan for a new policy on the transfer of .au domain names licences. (It is the exclusive licence to use the domain name that is transferred, rather than ownership of the domain name itself.) This announcement follows auDA’s earlier acceptance of the recommendation from the 2007 Names Policy Panel that the current policy be relaxed to allow a registrant to transfer its domain names for any reason.

  27 Mar 08 Michael Park , Ka-Chi Cheung

• Newsletter: Energy Law Update - March 2008

  Welcome to the first edition of Energy Law Update for 2008. In this edition, we examine whether compliance with Australian Standards is enough in the management and assessment of risks.

  19 Mar 08 Lindsay Houghton, Ross Ramsay, Rebecca Hoare, Elisa de Wit , Bradley Melman, Asha Stewart and Rachael Webb

• Legal update: Market volatility - ASX and ASIC respond

  Sensing a growing controversy, the ASX and ASIC have issued a number of media releases in response to market concerns, reminding market participants of laws designed to protect the integrity of markets. This update discusses the ASX and ASIC statements in light of the current apparent market volatility.

  17 Mar 08 Tim Woodforde

• Legal update: ACCC releases new draft merger guidelines

  The ACCC recently published its 2008 Draft Merger Guidelines for consultation. These guidelines are intended to provide an explanation of the framework the ACCC will apply when considering whether a merger or a proposed merger could substantially lessen competition in a market. Guidelines such as these issued by the ACCC from time to time, provide a useful overview of polices and procedures applied by the ACCC when reviewing proposed mergers.

  4 Mar 08 Jyoti Singh and Chris Mitchell

• Legal update: New Australian Dangerous Goods Code 7th Edition

  The new Australian Code for the Transport of Dangerous Goods by Road and Rail (the ADG7) has now been released. The ADG7 will replace the Australian Dangerous Goods Code 6th Edition (the ADG6) and is scheduled for implementation in 2008. The requirements under the ADG7 are more closely aligned with the international requirements of the United Nations Recommendations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods Model Regulations. However, the ADG7 retains Australian specific requirements.

  6 Dec 07 Michael Tooma , Leanne Thomas

• Newsletter: D-brief

  Welcome to the inaugural edition of D-brief, a quarterly government newsletter that aims to keep readers up to date with the latest developments in legislation, case law, government policies and other matters relevant to government.

  24 Oct 07 Ashley Tsacalos, Adrian D'Amico

• Legal update: Recent Tax Developments of interest to Private Equity industry

  The past few months have seen a number of tax developments of interest to the private equity industry. This note provides a brief summary of some of these.

  12 Sep 07 Peter Norman