IFLR and Asiamoney awards for Bell Gully

Bell Gully has received awards from leading financial magazines IFLR and Asiamoney.

The firm was named New Zealand Law Firm of the Year by the International Financial Law Review (IFLR) and was recognised as Legal Adviser on Asiamoney's M&A Deal of the Year 2003 at the magazine's Australian Awards.

Chairman Matthew Cockram accepted the IFLR award at an official ceremony in Hong Kong on 11 March. The award was made on the strength of Bell Gully's major corporate work in 2003.

"We are delighted to join a distinguished list of international award winners this year," said Matthew. "This award is the result of a lot of hard and smart work by what I believe is the leading commercial legal team in the country."

IFLR is published by Euromoney's Legal Media Group. It is the world's leading magazine for in-house counsel and practitioners in the financial markets. The magazine's annual awards are designed to reward legal innovation in the region last year across all areas of corporate finance. Read more at www.iflr.com.

Bell Gully received the Asiamoney award for its role in working in conjunction with the internal legal team at ANZ in advising ANZ on its acquisition of the National Bank of New Zealand from Lloyds TSB. Bell Gully was the only New Zealand law firm to feature in the awards.

Bell Gully partner Peter Castle received the award on the firm's behalf at an awards ceremony in Sydney in February, along with Australian law firm Blake Dawson Waldron, which also received an award for its work on the deal.

"We were delighted to be the only New Zealand law firm to receive an award from Asiamoney this year. It reflects well on Bell Gully's ability to work in partnership with leading Australian and New Zealand companies and law firms on complex Trans-Tasman deals," Peter said.

Asiamoney magazine is one of the leading commentators on finance, banking, investment and treasury matters in the Asia-Pacific region.

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