Lewis Assness

Associate
Baker & McKenzie LLP

Biography

Lewis Assness is an Associate in Baker McKenzie’s New York office and a member of the North America Transactional Practice Group.

Lewis offers strategic guidance to clients spanning diverse sectors, with a focus on cross-border and US domestic mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, and private equity deals. His expertise also encompasses capital markets, financing, and various commercial facets.

Prior to joining the New York office, Lewis worked in Baker McKenzie’s Sydney office as part of the Sydney Transactional Practice Group and as Australian Legal Counsel on a client secondment.

Representative Legal Matters

New York

  • Acted for Embracer Group, a Swedish video game holding company, in connection with its divestiture of certain assets, including Saber Interactive Inc., Nimble Giant, DIGIC, Fractured Byte, Sandbox Strategies, New World Interactive, and Mad Head Games, among others, for USD 247 million, with additional consideration of up to USD 94 million.

  • Acted for Tietoevry Oyj, a Finnish headquartered IT software and services company, on its acquisition of MentorMate, a digital engineering company headquartered in the US.

  • Acted for Embracer Group, a Swedish video game holding company, in connection with its acquisition of three video games studios, Crystal Dynamics, Eidos-Montréal, Square Enix Montréal, and a catalogue of IPs for USD 300 million.

  • Acted for a multinational pharmaceutical company in connection with the sale of its Russian operations for an undisclosed amount.

Sydney

  • Acted for Shell Energy Operations Pty Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Shell, and Infrastructure Capital Group, a leading Australian infrastructure manager, in connection with its acquisition of New Zealand company, Meridian Energy  (comprising an energy retainer, Powershop Australia, and wind, hydro and development assets, including operating wind farms and hydro projects) for a total consideration of AUD 730 million. 

  • Acted for Youfoodz Holdings Limited in connection with its sale to HelloFresh SE by way of scheme of arrangement for total consideration of AUD 125 million.

  • Acted for Youfoodz Holdings Limited (formerly ASX: YFZ), one of Australia’s fastest growing ready to eat food brands, in connection with its initial public offering and listing on the Australian Stock Exchange.

  • Acted for Crayon Group Holding ASA (OB: CRAYN) in connection with its AUD 410 million acquisition of rhipe Limited (ASX: RHP), a cloud software licensing business, by scheme of arrangement.

  • Acted for a multinational coffee company in connection with its acquisition of an Australian coffee company for an undisclosed amount.

  • Acted for US listed healthcare company, HMS Holdings Corp (NASDAQ: HMSY), a US healthcare analytics and technology company, in connection with its acquisition of Lorica Health, one of the largest payment accuracy solutions providers in Australia.

  • Acted for a Japanese multinational cement and construction materials business in connection with the incorporation of a new joint venture company formed with another Japanese multinational cement and construction materials business.

  • Acted for a US public company on its acquisition of an Italian agricultural business.

  • Acted for start-ups on series seed, seed+ and seed++ rounds.

Professional Associations and Memberships

  • Law Society of New South Wales - Member

Admissions

  • New York~United States (2023)
  • High Court of New Zealand (2021)
  • High Court of Australia (2020)
  • New South Wales~Australia (2019)

Education

  • Sciences Po Paris (Master of Economics)
  • University of Sydney (Juris Doctor)

Languages

  • English
  • Co-author, "Compliance Issues in Corporate Transactions," The Guide to Compliance - Second Edition, GIR Guide to Compliance, October 2023
  • Co-author, "M&A and Corporate Finance in the Luxury and Fashion Industry," Global Legal Guide for Luxury & Fashion Companies 2023-2024, Thomson Reuters, October 2023