Welcome to Flacks & Wong.
Your corporate law experts.
A snapshot of what we do
We advise listed and private companies, private equity and venture capital funds, entrepreneurs, and start-ups on buying, selling and investing in businesses, raising capital in the public and private markets and on their important commercial transactions.
We provide strategic, corporate governance and regulatory advice to boards of directors, senior executives and corporates.
We advise on general corporate and commercial matters.
We are a specialist corporate law firm based in Auckland, New Zealand.
Our directors, David Flacks and Daniel Wong, together have many years' top‑tier domestic and international experience across all areas of corporate and commercial law including:
- Buying, selling and investing in businesses, including Takeovers Code transactions
- Capital raisings, including seed, venture capital and private equity funding, and IPOs
- Strategic and corporate governance advice
- Resolving board, and shareholder, disputes and ownership issues
- Joint ventures, shareholders’ arrangements and other commercial transactions
- Advising on financial markets regulatory investigations and proceedings
Although we specialise in corporate law, we regularly access other areas of expertise as required to provide the full range of legal services. We take responsibility for project managing those other experts so that you have a single point of contact
As well as our corporate law expertise:
- Our "efficient, commercially pragmatic and deeply experienced advice is unmatched in the New Zealand market" (Chambers Asia-Pacific 2022)
- "The depth of expertise across the bench at Flacks & Wong is hard to match, with each lawyer being an extremely safe pair of hands" (The Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2022)
- We are highly respected for our long-standing track record in completing M&A, and capital markets, transactions
- We have a reputation for providing clear, and concise, solutions-focused advice
- We have deep relationships with New Zealand capital markets regulators and participants
- We offer access to senior, experienced lawyers only
- We support the next generation of lawyers through our funding of the Flacks & Wong Prize in Commercial Law at The University of Auckland and the Flacks & Wong Prize in Company Law at the Victoria University of Wellington
Our expertise is independently recognised:
- Leading firm for Corporate/Commercial in Chambers Asia-Pacific 2022
- David Flacks and Daniel Wong are each individually ranked for Corporate/Commercial in Chambers Asia-Pacific 2022
- Leading firm for Corporate and M&A in The Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2022
- Daniel Wong is in the elite tier of leading individuals for Corporate and M&A in The Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2022
- Finalist for "Boutique Law Firm of the Year" at the last five New Zealand Law Awards (2017-2021)
- Winner of "Boutique Law Firm of the Year" at the New Zealand Law Awards 2019
- Winner of "Mid-Market Deal of the Year" at the New Zealand Law Awards 2016
David Flacks
Director
David is a highly-respected, leading New Zealand corporate lawyer. He has a reputation for providing clear, concise advice, and for achieving pragmatic, commercial outcomes.
David was a partner at Bell Gully for many years, except for four years in the 1990s when he was a member of the senior executive team, general counsel and company secretary of Carter Holt Harvey.
Clients have commented (through Chambers Asia-Pacific, a respected global legal directory) that David “uses his broad international and in‑house experience to bring a pragmatic, commercial perspective to his work” and “is affable and easy to deal with, but not a pushover”. The 2015 edition refers to David’s “unflappable nature,” and notes that “when you've got emotional shareholders and a process is very convoluted, he can just walk through the middle of it; he reads people and tone brilliantly”.
David is a recent former member of the Takeovers Panel and recent Chair of the NZ Markets Disciplinary Tribunal.
Qualifications
BA (Cantab), MA (Cantab), St John’s College, Cambridge University
Admitted
1979, England and Wales (non-practising)
1985, New Zealand
Current governance roles
Director of The Todd Corporation
Chair of Suncorp New Zealand
Director of Harmoney Corp
Chair of AFT Pharmaceuticals
Daniel Wong
Director
Daniel Wong
Director
Daniel advises on a broad spectrum of corporate and capital markets transactions, with particular expertise in mid-market M&A, Takeovers Code transactions, complex joint venture and shareholder arrangements, and innovative forms of capital raising (including social bonds and equity crowdfunding).
Daniel is legal adviser to a number of NZX-listed companies, including on listing rule and corporate governance matters.
Five transactions on which Daniel has advised have won or been nominated as finalist across “M&A Deal of the Year”, “Mid-Market Deal of the Year”, “Capital Markets Deal of the Year” and “Consumer, Media and Tech Deal of the Year” at the last five New Zealand Law Awards.
Daniel is in the elite tier of leading individuals for Corporate and M&A in The Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2022, with a client commenting in the 2020 edition that he "is the best legal partner in our market in my opinion. He can be credited with drafting documentation to solve the needs of clients on several occasions when other legal partners were unable to solve the issues”.
In Chambers Asia-Pacific 2022, Daniel is praised by clients for being "a lawyer who creates solutions, not roadblocks" and "very, very commercial and one of the best I've worked with". Daniel is also recognised for his expertise in public M&A, private equity transactions and equity capital markets matters.
Daniel regularly presents to lawyers on corporate, and capital markets, law. Daniel was also a member of the regulatory working group of Capital Markets 2029 (the industry-led review of New Zealand's capital markets sponsored by the Financial Markets Authority and NZX).
Before co-founding Flacks & Wong, Daniel was a senior associate at Bell Gully in Auckland and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP in London.
Qualifications
LLB (First Class Honours), BCA (Finance and Management), Victoria University of Wellington
Admitted
2002, New Zealand
2008, England and Wales (non-practising)
Current governance roles
Trustee of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra Foundation
Katie Green
Senior Associate
Katie is a highly experienced and skilled corporate and commercial lawyer, with particular expertise in capital raising transactions, shareholder arrangements and M&A.
Katie is heavily involved in New Zealand’s start-up ecosystem advising both founders and investors, with a focus on impact investment.
Clients have praised Katie’s advice for being “incisive, timely, practical and consummately professional”.
Katie commenced her career in the corporate and commercial team at Bell Gully in Auckland, during which time she was also seconded to work with various business units within Carter Holt Harvey. Before joining Flacks & Wong, Katie was a senior associate at Herbert Smith Freehills in London in its capital markets and private equity teams.
Qualifications
LLB, BCom, University of Auckland
Admitted
2011, New Zealand
Rebecca Caird
Senior Associate
Rebecca Caird
Senior Associate
Rebecca advises on a broad range of corporate and commercial transactions, as well as regulatory compliance and governance matters.
Rebecca's experience includes advising on all aspects of M&A transactions and shareholder arrangements as well as other commercial contracts and terms, providing regulatory advice (including on AML/CFT matters) and assisting entities with their board charters, compliance documents and policies.
Before joining Flacks & Wong, Rebecca was a senior consultant at AML Solutions and a senior associate at Bell Gully in Auckland.
Qualifications
LLB(Hons), BA, University of Auckland
Admitted
2004, New Zealand
Flacks & Wong has advised:
- Tesbrit, as a major shareholder of 2degrees, on the $1.7 billion merger between 2degrees and Orcon Group
- Leaft Foods on its US$15 million Series A capital raise, led by Khosla Ventures and joined by Ngāi Tahu, ACC New Zealand's Climate Change Impact Fund and Steven Adams
- Projectworks on its $3.5 million seed capital raise, led by Punakaiki Fund and also supported by Snowball Effect
- Miruku on its $3.5 million seed capital raise, led by Movac and joined by the Aspire NZ Seed Fund, Better Bite Ventures and Ahimsa VC
- a senior Ziwi executive on the sale of Ziwi to FountainVest Partners
- Tanarra Capital on its initial and follow-on investments in New Zealand Wool Scouring
- Impact Enterprise Fund on its seed, convertible note and Series A investments in CarbonCrop, CertusBio, Cropsy, Grounded Packaging, LearnCoach, Melon Health, Tether, Waikaitu, ZeroJet and Zincovery
- Toru Group as manager of the $20 million Te Pae ki te Rangi impact investment fund established by Foundation North
- Grounded Packaging on its A$5 million Series A capital raise, led by Kilara Capital
- a senior Vend executive on the US$350 million sale of Vend to Lightspeed
- the vendors on the sale of property management software business Palace to MRI Software
- a syndicate of high net worth individuals on an $8 million debt facility made available to Straker Translations to fund its acquisition of Lingotek
- SeaDragon on various matters, including transactions regulated by the Takeovers Code and/or the NZX Listing Rules, an NZX waiver, its delisting from NZX and subsequent USX listing, facilities provided by the Masthead group and an equity offer to existing shareholders via a crowdfunding platform
- on investigations by the Financial Markets Authority on potential insider conduct breaches involving NZX-listed issuers
- anihana, ArchiPro, GoodFor, Hello Cup and Zeffer Cider on their respective equity offers via crowdfunding platforms
- Compagnie Financière Tradition on its acquisition of OM Wholesale
- Finzsoft Solutions on its $10 million public takeover offer by Finzsoft Joint Venture
- Perpetual Guardian on its acquisition of the Givealittle crowdfunding website from the Spark Foundation
- a registered bank, following a statutory request from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, on an independent report on governance matters
- Ninety Four Feet on its partnership with Augusta Capital to develop the Lakeview site in Queenstown
- xTV Networks on its acquisition, and the reverse listing on the ASX, of New Zealand Coastal Seafoods, and its contemporaneous A$14 million IPO in New Zealand and Australia
- the management team of ACG Schools on the sale of ACG Schools by Pacific Equity Partners to Inspired Education
- Coretex on the subscription by Movac of equity into Coretex
- the Special Division of NZ Markets Disciplinary Tribunal on the reverse NZX listing of PaySauce
- Tesbrit on obtaining Overseas Investment Office consent for acquisitions of shares in 2degrees
- Serko on its US share-for-share acquisition of InterplX
- Pioneer Capital, as a substantial shareholder of Orion Health, on the $225 million Hg Capital transaction
- Milford Asset Management, as a substantial shareholder of SLI Systems, on the $40 million ESW takeover offer
- Appliance Shed on the sale of its business to Noel Leeming
- Keytone Dairy Corporation on its acquisition of Keytone Enterprises (NZ) Company, and its contemporaneous listing on the ASX, and A$30 million IPO in New Zealand and Australia
- Oyster Property Group on its joint venture with KKR to acquire the Central Park Corporate Centre for $209 million, including obtaining Overseas Investment Office consent
- Serko on the establishment of its non-executive director fixed trading share plan
- Genesis Youth Trust on its (and New Zealand's second) offer of social bonds
- APM Workcare on its (and New Zealand's first) offer of social bonds
- the vendors on the $70 million sale of Compac Sorting Equipment to Tomra Systems
- Coretex on its $72 million acquisition (by way of merger) of Imarda and International Telematics, and the subsequent subscription by Milford of equity into Coretex
- Teva Pharmaceuticals on the application of New Zealand's overseas investment regime to its proposed US$40 billion acquisition of Mylan
Contact us
Feel free to give one of us a call and let’s chat over a coffee. We don’t charge for an initial discussion and we’ll be upfront on what we think the issues are and whether we can assist.
Contact details for our lawyers appear on the ‘Our team’ section above. Alternatively, please contact us by completing this form.
Level 5, Shortland Chambers Building
70 Shortland Street
PO Box 591
Auckland 1140
New Zealand