Joshua Heard

Partner
Corporate and Commercial

P: +61 3 9614 7000
D: +61 3 9648 2366
M: +61 421 070 567
E: jheard@sbalaw.com

Joshua Heard

Partner
Corporate and Commercial

P: +61 3 9614 7000
D: +61 3 9648 2366
M: +61 421 070 567
E: jheard@sbalaw.com

Expertise

Josh is a highly regarded Partner in the firm’s corporate and commercial team with more than 15 years’ experience advising both public and private clients on a broad range of complex corporate and commercial transactions.

Josh has particular expertise and an outstanding track record in negotiated M&A transactions and venture capital investments and exits. He has acted for clients ranging from SMEs, family offices and venture capital funds, through to large superannuation funds, covering a range of industry sectors. In addition, he regularly advises clients on their shareholder arrangements and corporate restructures.

Josh is sought after for his exceptional service delivery and responsiveness, commercial acumen, negotiating skills and ability to manage and successfully execute complex transactions in a commercial, efficient and cost-effective manner.

Prior to joining SBA Law, Josh spent over 7 years at international law firm DLA Piper. His experience also includes a secondment with Toyota Australia’s in-house legal department.

Education

Josh holds a Bachelor of Commerce and a Bachelor of Laws (with Honours) from Monash University.

Experience

Josh’s recent corporate transactions include:

  • Lumery: the sale of leading Melbourne-based marketing technology consultancy The Lumery to Accenture.
  • Tufin & Turn/River Capital: on the acquisition of AKIPS (a Brisbane-based network monitoring solutions company).
  • Roller: on its US$50m funding round led by global software investor, Insight Partners.
  • Mojo Group: the sale of Mojo Motorcycles and Mojo Electric Vehicles (one of Australia’s largest importers and wholesalers of motorcycles, genuine spare parts and accessories) to ASX-listed MotorCycle Holdings Limited for up to $60m.
  • Strangelove: the sale of the StrangeLove premium low-calorie soft drinks and mixers group to Asahi Beverages.
  • Tradesquare (an online wholesale B2B marketplace): on its most recent capital raising led by US investment firm Tiger Global to raise $28m.
  • Vivi (a leading visual learning, collaboration and administration platform for education): on its most recent capital raising led by New York-based education investor Quad Partners to raise $26.5m.
  • SEEK Investments: on its $40m investment in Hireup, an online platform for National Disability Insurance Scheme participants to find, hire and manage support workers.
  • MaxCap Group: the sale of up to a 50% equity stake in MaxCap Group (ranked No. 1 in CRE Debt in the Australian marketplace) to clients managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management, Inc (NYSE: APO).
  • Yarra Capital Management: the merger of independent Australian fund manager Yarra Capital Management and the Australian business of global funds management group Nikko Asset Management Co., Ltd to create one of Australia’s largest independently owned Australian funds management businesses, with approx. A$20b of funds under management.
  • Catch Group: the merger of Eat Now (a Catch Group subsidiary) and Menulog and subsequently advising Catch Group on its interest in the sale of the merged Menulog group to Just Eat for $855m; the purchase of Tiger Global’s minority interest by Catch Group’s founders; the complex swap of assets with Lux Group, the merger of their local and daily deals operations and the investment in Lux Group by Catch Group’s founders; the sale of Catch Group to Wesfarmers for $230m.
  • TIC Group: the sale of TIC Retail Accessories (a division of the TIC Group of companies) to PACT Group for $122m plus earn-outs.
  • Aquila: the sale of a majority interest to Blue Sky.
  • Cobs Popcorn: the sale to Kin Group.
  • TryBooking: the sale to Connexeo (backed by private equity firm Great Hill Partners).
  • HROnboard: sale to ASX-listed ELMO Software Limited.

Awards and recognition

Josh is recognised in the 2023 Doyle’s Guide as a recommended Victorian Business and Commercial Lawyer.