Tompkins Wake advises Grant Thornton New Zealand on global platform integration

Tuesday 4 November, 2025

Tompkins Wake has advised Grant Thornton New Zealand Ltd on a strategically significant and highly complex cross-border transaction, supporting its agreement to join the Grant Thornton Advisors global platform, led by Grant Thornton Advisors LLC.

The transaction positions Grant Thornton New Zealand within a rapidly expanding multinational advisory and tax platform spanning more than 20 time zones and multiple regulatory regimes, extending across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific. It is expected to close later this year.

A high-value, multi-jurisdictional transaction

The deal brings into the platform one of New Zealand’s leading professional services firms, with annual revenues in excess of US$40 million and a team of more than 300 professionals. It reflects the increasing scale and sophistication of transactions involving professional services firms, particularly where global integration, governance alignment and regulatory complexity intersect.

From a legal perspective, the transaction required careful navigation of:

• complex cross-border structuring issues
• New Zealand and overseas regulatory considerations
• governance and control frameworks for multinational platforms
• alignment with the Grant Thornton International Limited network model
• stakeholder and leadership arrangements across multiple jurisdictions

The platform itself is backed by an investor group led by New Mountain Capital and is consolidating high-performing advisory and tax firms globally, alongside independent audit practices. It already includes Grant Thornton firms in the United States, Ireland, France, the United Arab Emirates, the Netherlands, the Channel Islands and the Cayman Islands, with further European transactions announced.

Demonstrating leading corporate and transactional capability

The matter was led by Partner Tom Arieli, with support from Luke Bowers, Alex Rankin and Krishy Gill. The team worked closely with Grant Thornton New Zealand’s senior leadership to deliver a seamless outcome on a transaction of significant scale and strategic importance.

International coordination formed a key element of the mandate, with Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP and MinterEllisonRuddWatts advising Grant Thornton Advisors, underscoring the transaction’s global reach and complexity.

This mandate highlights Tompkins Wake’s strength in advising on:

• complex corporate transactions and strategic investments
• cross-border and multinational restructurings
• professional services firm integrations
• transactions involving private capital and global platforms

Supporting clients on their most strategic transactions

The transaction reflects a growing trend of New Zealand businesses participating in sophisticated global platform models to access capital, technology and international capability. Tompkins Wake continues to be trusted by leading domestic and international organisations to advise on transactions where deal value, complexity and execution risk demand deep technical expertise and pragmatic commercial judgement.

Tompkins Wake is proud to have supported Grant Thornton New Zealand on this landmark transaction and congratulates all parties on an important step in building a truly global advisory platform.