| The Hutt side of the firm was started in 1927 by Eric Francis Rothwell. He started out as a sole practitioner with his first office in High Street in Lower Hutt. In the 1930's Eric was joined by John Stanhope Reid. The early 30's was a pretty tough period. At the end of the week, Rothwell and Reid would tally up what they had taken during the week and flip a coin to see who got to eat meat that week! In 1945 Keith Gibson joined the partnership (it became Rothwell Reid & Gibson). Reid left the firm to become a diplomat. E F Page, who had a practice in Wellington, joined the team and the firm became Rothwell Gibson & Page, operating from both Wellington and Lower Hutt. In 1950 they were joined by John Marshall, who was eventually to become Prime Minister. The firm was then known as Rothwell Gibson Page & Marshall. |
Work with a team that will look for ways to make your business changes hassle-free.
If you're looking to sell or buy a business and want to work with lawyers who can develop innovative deal structures that will work for you, then we can help. We also have great relationships with some of New Zealand's biggest business brokers.
Our approach is to find out what you want to achieve up front. We'll then spend time identifying and overcoming the key issues that can make or break the deal. We'll work alongside your accountants and other advisers to ensure that our proposed deal structure works for you from a financial and tax perspective.
Our business purchase lawyers have experience in advising on asset sales, share sales and mergers and acquisitions. Whether you are in manufacturing, retail, franchising or commercial, we can assist with:
Don't make buying or selling your business harder than it needs to be! Our focus is on getting you what you want and ensuring a smooth transfer from buyer to seller.
Merging your business with another business
Work with a team that will look for ways to make your deal happen.
Are you're looking to merge or to buy or sell a business and want to work with lawyers who can develop innovative deal structures that will work for you?
Our approach is to find out what you want to achieve up front. We'll then spend time identifying and overcoming the key issues that can make or break the deal. We'll work alongside your accountants and other advisers to ensure that our proposed deal structure works for you from a financial and tax perspective.
What is a merger or acquisition?
A merger, or acquisition, is when two companies combine to form one to take advantage of synergies. A merger typically occurs when one company purchases another company by buying a certain amount of its stock in exchange for its own stock.
An acquisition is slightly different and often does not involve a change in management. Typically, the share price of the company being bought will increase as goodwill is taken into consideration in the purchase price.
Shareholders are able to vote on whether a merger should take place or not.
There are a few things that you will need your lawyer to do it you're considering merging your business with another one:
ensure that the merger complies with the law, regulate due diligence (make sure the claims the vendor is making are correct), help facilitate the consolidation when merging the businesses (eg. two finance departments, duplicate staff in similar roles), provide advice around the drafting, negotiation and performance of contracts.
Mergers can bring many benefits to the New Zealand economy by making it possible for firms to be more efficient and innovative. However, some mergers also have the potential to lessen competition to the detriment of consumers and therefore may involvement with the New Zealand Commerce Commission.
If buying, selling, or merging your business is something that you're considering, make sure you've got experience and expertise on your team - give one of our team a call:
Our consultative approach to employment law sets us apart from others. Whether you're an employer or employee, tell us what's important to you and that's where we'll start.
Employers
You need an employment lawyer who is approachable and available. When you feel like you can talk to us, we'll both do our best work. We believe that establishing an open rapport with our clients' HR teams and managerial staff will ensure a trusted relationship that serves everyone in the best way.
You should feel comfortable ringing us before reacting to a situation which could result in a personal grievance claim. Often a quick call to us to clarify the process or possible outcome won't cost you anything, and can save your organisation thousands of dollars.
While we regularly appear in the Employment Relations Authority and Employment Court, our approach is to help clients resolve issues early wherever possible, to avoid the need to progress that far.
Employees
If you've had a rough time at work, we're here to hear your side. We help employees to resolve their employment issues quickly - often one phone call from us can straighten things out immediately. We offer practical advice, talk to you in simple terms and tell you straight if we don't think you've got a case.
You can rest assured that we have the best outcome for you at the heart of what we do. We can assist you with the full range of employment-related issues from unfair dismissal, redundancy, and performance management through to parental leave queries, or dissatisfaction with an action your manager has taken (e.g. reducing your hours or not paying overtime).
We have a great team of down-to-earth employment lawyers with a wide range of experience. This means that you can be confident that your work will be undertaken at the right level within the firm - you won't be paying more than you need to.
If you're looking for quick, practical advice, or have an employment issue that you would like to discuss with us in confidence please contact:
Are you A New Zealand business needing to recruit skilled employees not available locally? Here's all you need to know.
If you're an investor looking to invest and live in New Zealand, or a New Zealand business needing to recruit skilled employees not available locally, Gibson Sheat provides a range of business-related immigration services for New Zealand migrants.
Whether you're:
An investor focused on investing and living in New Zealand,
New Zealand businesses needing to recruit migrant employees,
Migrants wishing to buy property,
Migrants wanting to purchase or acquire shares in a business,
Migrants looking to establish a family trust or seeking advice on estate planning and succession in New Zealand, or,
Overseas investment inquiries.
We will be able to assist you - [email protected] is a Partner who specialises in the above.
With extensive business and professional relationships including banks, financial institutions, tax advisors, accountants, valuers, and real estate agents, we are well-placed to assist you with your business immigration issues.
Our immigration team looks forward to working closely with you, to help you achieve your immigration goals.
Investors
A new Active Investor Plus visa category comes in to force on 19 September 2022 replacing the Investor 1 and 2 visa categories.
Set out below is a snapshot of the proposed new category designed in the Governments view to bring growth opportunities to New Zealand businesses.
A further update with more specific information will be posted once the eligibility criteria is confirmed, the key points that have been released thus far, are:
Incentivising direct investment in New Zealand firms through a weighting system.
A minimum investment threshold of $15 million NZ or weighted equivalent*
A minimum stay of 117 days in New Zealand over a four -year investment period
An English language requirement of an IELTS score of at least 5.0.
* A direct investment will receive a 3x weighting per dollar invested. This means that an
applicant who wants to make an acceptable direct investment will be eligible with $5 million NZD.
