Stefanie Benson
Stefanie Benson
Stefanie Benson
Stefanie Benson

“An excellent competition practitioner – very knowledgeable, responsive and pragmatic. ”

Legal 500

Biography

Stefanie Benson is a partner in the global antitrust practice based in Sydney.

With over 20 years experience, Stefanie acts for clients on large scale complex mergers and joint ventures, investigations and enforcement matters, infrastructure access and obtaining regulatory clearances. She regularly acts on global transactions requiring multi-jurisdictional merger clearances and investigations requiring cross-border co-ordination.

She advises on strategically important competition issues in a range of industries including technology, energy and resources, renewables, financial services, transport, port and rail and consumer goods.

Stefanie is recognised as a global elite thought leader in the future leaders category by Lexology (formerly Who's Who Legal) and as a Next Generation Partner by Legal 500.
 

Experience

Stefanie's experience includes acting for:

  • Asahi in relation to its USD11bn acquisition of Carlton & United Breweries.*
  • Shutterstock in its acquisition of Envato Pty Ltd.
  • MMG Limited: on its entry into a definitive agreement to acquire Anglo American’s nickel business in Brazil for cash consideration of up to US$500 million.
  • Leading multinational technology company: provided strategic advice in relation to applying various forms of regulation to artificial intelligence technology.
  • Louis Dreyfus Company: Advised on the competition aspects of the off-market takeover of ASX listed Namoi Cotton.
  • SABMiller on its unsolicited AUD 12.3 billion takeover of Foster's Group.The transaction structure required a multijurisdictional merger assessment of >30 jurisdictions.*
  • EG Group on its AUD1.72bn acquisition of the Woolworths fuel and convenience business.*
  • Property Exchange Limited (PEXA) on its dual track IPO / trade sale process, resulting in the sale of PEXA to a consortium for AUD1.62bn.*
  • Tullet Prebon in respect of its US$1.6bn acquisition of ICAP’s global wholesale broking business.*
  • Bradken on its USD528m takeover by Hitachi.*
  • TNT in relation to obtaining ACCC clearance in respect of its €4.4bn sale to Fedex.*
  • Emirates in relation to its 5 year alliance with Qantas Airways.*
  •  Jinchuan in relation to obtaining competition clearances in China, Zambia and South Africa in respect of its USD1.3 billion acquisition of Metorex.*
  • SABMiller plc in the USD10.1 billion acquisition of Foster’s Group.*
  • MIMI Japan Australia LNG (Mitsubishi Corporation and Mitsui & Co) on competition issues in relation to its AUD2bn acquisition of a 14.7 % interest in the East Browse LNG Development Joint Venture from Woodside Petroleum.*
  • BG Group on its AUD13.7bn hostile takeover attempt of Origin Energy and for BG Group in relation to its acquisition of QGC.*
  • Google in relation to the ACCC’s digital platforms market inquiry, subsequent monitoring investigations and APAC wide policy initiatives as well as the Japan Digital Markets Competition Headquarters inquiry into competition in mobile OS.*
  • Alinta Energy on the ACCC Retail Electricity Pricing Inquiry (an inquiry into the supply of retail electricity and competition in retail electricity markets) and the ACCC Eastern Australia Gas Inquiry.*
  • One Rail Australia in relation to the access regime governing the Tarcoola to Darwin railway.*
  • A major industrial manufacturer in relation to a claim brought by a customer for breach of consumer guarantees under the ACL.
  • A major financial services company in relation to a global antitrust investigation in the financial services sector.*
  • An industrial supplier in relation to an ACCC investigation into alleged cartel conduct.*
  • A major FMCG supplier in relation to an ACCC investigation into alleged anticompetitive conduct.*
  • A major health insurer in relation to allegations of misleading and deceptive conduct in their handling of customer claims.*

*Experience prior to joining White & Case.

 

New South Wales
LLM
University of Melbourne
Bachelor of Laws (Hons)
University of Sydney
Bachelor of Commerce
University of Sydney
English

Named a 'Rising star' in The Legal 500: Asia Pacific and Future Leader by Whos Who Legal

Stefanie is a co-author of the LexisNexis text 'The Law and Social Media'.

Service areas