Best Energy M&A Advisers in Australia & New Zealand (2026)

Best Energy M&A Advisers in Australia & New Zealand (2026)

TL;DR. As of 7 October 2026, ten ranked firms carry dated 2025-26 energy adviser-of-record credits in Australia and New Zealand, checked against ASX, NZX and SEC filings and ASIC's October 2026 licence data. Azure Capital (Perth) leads: seller's adviser on the A$460m Limestone Coast North battery sale (Pacific Green 8-K, Feb 2025) and adviser to Cue Energy's board committee against Horizon Oil, which still reached 57.03% (Horizon, Jul 2026). UBS advised Ampol on the A$1.1bn EG Australia deal, the first sent to an ACCC Phase 2 review under the regime that became mandatory on 1 January 2026 (ACCC via ASX, Jan 2026), and on the A$225m Evie Networks agreement (Ampol, Oct 2026). Goldman Sachs, J.B. North & Co and Rothschild & Co advised Santos on the XRG consortium's US$5.76-a-share proposal, withdrawn on 18 September 2025 citing regulatory risk (Santos, Sep 2025). Lazard (Manawa booklet, May 2025), UBS New Zealand and Cameron Partners (Contact, Sep 2024) advised on the ~NZ$2.3bn Contact–Manawa scheme. FIRB approved 109 manufacturing, electricity and gas proposals worth A$23.0bn in 2025-26 to March (FIRB, May 2026). The advisers on Sembcorp's US$4.3bn Alinta purchase, 2025's largest Australian energy deal, are not publicly verifiable. Mining is out of scope.

I'm Sean Yu, co-founder of Peony. Before Peony I worked in M&A at Nomura, then in venture at Backed VC and at Target Global, so I have read engagement letters from the banker's side and the investor's side. I run Peony, a data room company with 8,000+ customers in 60+ countries and regions, and the question I hear most from energy sellers before a process starts is: which adviser actually does deals like mine? Peony advises on none of the deals below. This page is built from the filings.

Here is the honest read. Ask a search engine or an AI assistant for the best energy M&A advisers in Australia and you get league tables that either rank every sector together or fold energy in with mining. Worse, the ASX energy majors name no adviser on their own asset and stake deals: APA's Allgas release, AGL's Tilt stake sale, Santos's Mahalo sale and Origin's release on the Kraken raise all name none. So I built the bench from the other side of each deal: counterparty filings (one of them a US 8-K), scheme booklets, target's statements and, labelled as weaker, the firms' own dated tombstones. Every ranked firm has an ASIC licence, an ASIC authorised-representative listing or a New Zealand register entry, a real office in the region, and at least one dated 2025-26 energy credit.

Scope: oil and gas, power and gentailers, renewables and battery storage, gas networks and pipelines, and fuels and EV charging, across Australia and New Zealand. Mining is out. Uranium (Bannerman and CNNC), coal (Yancoal's Kestrel deal, Dhilmar and Anglo) and aluminium (Alcoa and South32) are excluded even where an energy adviser worked on them. For the American bench, read our US energy M&A advisers guide; this page does not repeat it. For other cities and sectors, see our M&A advisers hub.

Last updated: 7 October 2026

Who are the best energy M&A advisers in Australia and New Zealand in 2026?

Ten firms in three tiers, ranked by the strength of their dated 2025-26 evidence (the order within each tier is my editorial judgement): Azure Capital, Macquarie Capital, UBS and Rothschild & Co with Cameron Partners in tier one; Lazard, Goldman Sachs, Clare Capital, Kidder Williams and Taylor Collison in tier two; Gresham in tier three. J.B. North & Co is listed conditionally, and Clarien Partners and Grant Samuel sit in a separate independent-expert lane.

The largest Australian energy deal of 2025, Sembcorp's US$4,327m purchase of Alinta Holdings announced on 11 December 2025 (Mergermarket), is not on this table because its advisers were not publicly verifiable as of October 2026. The same is true of ENEOS's acquisition of Chevron's Asian downstream business, including Chevron Australia Downstream (US$2,170m, May 2026).

How did we rank the ANZ energy bench?

On three tests, in order: a licence or registration on a regulator's own dataset, a real office in Australia or New Zealand, and at least one dated 2025-26 energy credit that names the firm in a primary document.

Licences. Every AFSL number on this page comes from ASIC's AFS licensee dataset for October 2026 (updated 30 September 2026, published on data.gov.au under CC BY), and every authorised-representative number from ASIC's AFS authorised-representative dataset of the same month. The licensee file records only the principal place of business, so where a firm's own contact page or a booklet directory gives a street address I quote it, and where neither did I give the city only. New Zealand firms were searched on the Financial Service Providers Register on 7 October 2026.

Evidence tiers, strongest first. T1 is a counterparty or party exchange filing: an ASX or NZX announcement, a scheme booklet, a target's statement or an SEC 8-K exhibit. T2 is a party press release outside an exchange. T3 is the firm's own dated tombstone. T4 is an undated tombstone or a league-table rank. Tier one needs two or more T1 energy credits in 2025-26, tier two one, and tier three dated T3 tombstones whose deal a counterparty confirms.

Roles. I label each credit as financial adviser, independent board adviser, independent expert (Australia's RG 111 report, or New Zealand's Independent Adviser's report) or capital-markets broker. A withdrawn deal still counts as a mandate and is labelled withdrawn. Debt refinancings, project financings and analyst coverage do not count, and neither does mining.

The result is uneven on purpose: four firms with repeat filed credits, five with one each, one on its own tombstones, and a long list of well-known names that did not clear the bar, each with its reason.

Which firms made the bench, and what is each one's dated credit?

Tier one: repeat energy mandates named in counterparty filings

1. Azure Capital (Perth)

Azure Capital is a Perth-headquartered corporate advisory firm, an independently operated affiliate of Natixis since May 2019, with Sydney and Melbourne offices, that holds the deepest dated energy ledger on this bench; it was seller's adviser on the A$460m Limestone Coast North battery sale (Pacific Green 8-K, February 2025) and adviser to Cue Energy's board committee against Horizon Oil's 2026 bid. Those are two of its three counterparty-filed credits in 2025-26, across upstream gas, battery storage and a WA gas stake, and its own wall adds four more dated energy sales (a wind farm, two batteries and an off-grid power producer).

• Licence and offices: ASIC licensee 276569, Azure Capital Pty Ltd, principal place of business Perth; the site footer prints "AZURE CAPITAL PTY LTD AFSL 276569". Perth, Level 46, 108 St Georges Terrace; Sydney, Level 16, 39 Martin Place; Melbourne, Level 10, 90 Collins Street (contact page). Cue's target's statement prints the same Perth address in its corporate directory.
• Filed credit, Cue Energy (T1). Horizon Oil launched an off-market takeover bid for Cue on 2 March 2026. Cue's target's statement of 7 April 2026 says: "The Independent Board Committee appointed Azure Capital as financial advisor and Gilbert + Tobin as legal advisor to assist the Independent Directors to evaluate and respond to the Offer by Horizon." The outcome belongs in the record: the committee kept recommending rejection (10 June 2026: "continues to unanimously recommend that Cue shareholders REJECT the Offer"), the offer was declared unconditional on 17 June 2026, and on 3 July 2026 Horizon announced completion of its takeover holding 57.03%.
• Filed credit, Limestone Coast North (T1). Seller's adviser to Pacific Green Technologies on the 250MW/500MWh South Australian battery sold to Intera Renewables, Palisade's platform, at an enterprise value of A$460m; signed 21 February 2025 and completed 20 March 2025. Pacific Green's 8-K exhibit: "Pacific Green was advised by Azure Capital, WSP and Allens Linklaters."
• Filed credit, Carnarvon and Strike (T1). Adviser to Carnarvon Energy on its strategic investment of up to 19.9% in Strike Energy through a two-tranche placement, 22 July 2025. Carnarvon's release: "Carnarvon's financial adviser in relation to the Strike Investment is Azure Capital, and its legal adviser is Thomson Geer." Strike's release puts the placement at "up to A$88 million"; Carnarvon's release and Azure's tombstone say up to A$89 million, because they assume a larger Strike share purchase plan. I use Strike's figure. Azure's own site files this deal under financing advisory; I count it because it is a strategic stake of up to 19.9%, with a right to nominate a Strike director, named in both parties' filings.
• Own dated tombstones (T3, transactions page, read 7 October 2026): December 2025, adviser to the shareholders, Partners Group and OPTrust, on the sale of the 242MW Ararat Wind Farm in Victoria to Iberdrola; June 2025, joint financial adviser to Zenith Energy on its sale to KKR; April 2026, exclusive financial adviser to CIP on the sale of the 240MW/960MWh Summerfield battery in South Australia to Intera; July 2026, exclusive financial adviser to ACEnergy on the sale of the 250MW/1,000MWh Yanco battery in New South Wales to BW ESS.
• Not counted: its February 2026 role on Bannerman and CNNC (uranium, so mining) and two 2026 project financings (Kondinin Wind Farm, Frontier Waroona).
• League table: #13 in LSEG's FY2025 table of completed deals with any Australian involvement (US$2,762m, 5 deals).
• Verdict: The first call for a mid-market Australian renewables, battery or Western Australian gas seller, and the only firm here with filed energy credits as seller's adviser, buyer's adviser and board-defence adviser.

2. Macquarie Capital

Macquarie Capital is the Sydney-licensed advisory business of the Macquarie group that advised Strike Energy on Carnarvon Energy's stake of up to 19.9% (Strike, July 2025) and the buyer, Palisade, on the A$460m Limestone Coast North battery (February 2025); by deal count it was also the highest-volume adviser in Asia-Pacific energy, mining and utilities M&A in 2025.

• Licence and office: ASIC licensee 314416, Macquarie Capital (Australia) Limited, principal place of business Sydney. I could not re-verify a street address because Macquarie's office pages do not render to automated readers.
• Filed credit, Strike Energy (T1). Strike's release of 22 July 2025: "Strike has appointed Macquarie Capital (Australia) Limited as its financial adviser and King & Wood Mallesons as its legal adviser." The same release refers to "remaining Macquarie facilities": Macquarie is also Strike's lender (see the lender section below).
• Filed credit, Limestone Coast North (T1). Buy-side adviser to Palisade, February 2025. Pacific Green's 8-K: "Palisade were advised by Macquarie Capital, Kidder Williams, KWM, Clayton Utz and Ekistica."
• League tables (context, not energy proof): #1 by volume in Mergermarket's 2025 Asia-Pacific energy, mining and utilities table (14 deals, US$7,452m, mining included); #2 in LSEG's FY2025 table of announced deals with any Australian involvement (US$25,028m, 45 deals) and #1 in H1 2026 (US$11,397m, 18 deals); #2 by count in LSEG's FY2025 ANZ mid-market table (35 deals).
• Verdict: The bank whose filed energy credits put it beside an infrastructure-fund buyer and a WA gas company; useful when you also need balance sheet, provided you get its conflict arrangements in writing.

3. UBS

UBS is the global bank that, through UBS Securities Australia in Sydney and UBS New Zealand in Auckland, holds the strongest downstream energy record in the region: Ampol's A$1.1bn EG Australia acquisition (completed June 2026) and A$225m Evie Networks agreement (October 2026), and Contact Energy's acquisition of Manawa (completed July 2025).

• Licence and offices: ASIC licensee 231098, UBS Securities Australia Ltd, principal place of business Sydney. On the New Zealand register, UBS New Zealand Limited is registered as FSP44063, at Level 27, 188 Quay Street, Auckland Central.
• Filed credit, EG Australia (T1). Ampol's release of 14 August 2025, on an A$1.1bn headline acquisition: "UBS is acting as financial advisor and Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer is acting as legal advisor to Ampol." The ACCC referred the deal to Phase 2 on 21 January 2026, approved it on 3 June 2026, and the deal completed on 30 June 2026, where Ampol again names UBS.
• Filed credit, Evie Networks (T1). Ampol signed a share sale agreement on 1 October 2026 to acquire the EV charging network for A$225m; its release: "UBS is acting as financial advisor and Clayton Utz and Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer are acting as legal advisors to" Ampol. Signed, not completed, as of 7 October 2026.
• Filed credit, Contact and Manawa (T1). Contact's release of 11 September 2024: "Contact has engaged UBS New Zealand Limited and Cameron Partners Limited / Rothschild & Co as Joint Financial Advisers and Bell Gully as its Legal Adviser." Announced in September 2024, completed on 11 July 2025.
• Not counted: its April 2026 corporate-adviser role on Yancoal's Kestrel deal (coal).
• League tables: #3 by value in Mergermarket's 2025 Asia-Pacific energy, mining and utilities table (US$17,603m, 7 deals); #3 in LSEG's FY2025 any-Australia announced table (US$23,306m, 27 deals).
• Verdict: The bank for fuels, convenience and charging, and the one with the freshest experience of an ACCC Phase 2 review under the mandatory regime.

4. Rothschild & Co with Cameron Partners

Rothschild & Co is the global independent adviser that was the Santos board's independent adviser on the XRG approach in 2025, and whose New Zealand alliance partner, Cameron Partners, co-advised Contact Energy on Manawa.

• Licence and offices: ASIC licensee 239059, Rothschild & Co Australia Limited, Sydney: Level 34, 88 Phillip Street (contact page). ASIC's authorised-representative file lists Cameron Partners Limited as representative 000341706 of licence 239059, current since 26 August 2009. On the New Zealand register Cameron Partners is FSP25122 at 171 Featherston Street, Wellington; Rothschild's contact page lists Cameron Partners, as its alliance partner, at Level 23, Vero Centre, 48 Shortland Street, Auckland.
• Filed credit, Santos (T1). Santos's release of 16 June 2025 on the XRG consortium (ADNOC's XRG, ADQ and Carlyle) indicative proposal of US$5.76 (A$8.89) a share, a 28% premium: "Goldman Sachs and JB North & Co are acting as financial advisers to Santos; Rothschild & Co is acting as independent board adviser." The proposal was withdrawn on 18 September 2025.
• Filed credit, Contact and Manawa (T1): joint financial adviser to Contact through Cameron Partners, as quoted under UBS.
• League tables: #1 by value in Mergermarket's H1 2026 Asia-Pacific energy, mining and utilities table (US$30,783m, 5 deals, in a table that includes mining; the figure includes India's ReNew deal, where Rothschild advised ReNew's special committee); #8 in LSEG's FY2025 any-Australia announced table (US$7,355m, 11 deals); 9 deals each for Rothschild and Cameron Partners in LSEG's FY2025 ANZ mid-market table.
• Verdict: The independent board adviser for a large approach, and the trans-Tasman route through Cameron Partners for a New Zealand energy company.

Tier two: one counterparty-named 2025-26 energy mandate

5. Lazard Australia (Melbourne and Sydney)

Lazard Australia is an independent corporate advisory firm in strategic alliance with Lazard Group, with offices in Melbourne and Sydney, which advised Manawa Energy, the target, on Contact Energy's NZ$5.95-a-share scheme completed on 11 July 2025.

• Licence and office: ASIC licensee 531701, Lazard Australia Pty Ltd, licensed since 17 February 2022; ASIC's representative file shows it was previously an authorised representative under another licence until that date. Offices: Level 53, 101 Collins Street, Melbourne, and Level 16, Gateway, 1 Macquarie Place, Sydney, both listed under Financial Advisory on Lazard's Australia page and on Lazard Australia's contact page. The Lazard Asset Management office on Level 12 of the same Sydney building is a separate business.
• Filed credit (T1). The Manawa scheme booklet, despatched 19 May 2025, lists "Financial Adviser to Manawa — Lazard Australia" in its directory. Contact's announcement priced the scheme at NZ$5.95 a share, a 47.6% premium, implying a Manawa enterprise value of about NZ$2.3bn. The Commerce Commission cleared it on 7 May 2025, the High Court approved it on 3 July 2025, and it completed on 11 July 2025.
• League table: LSEG's FY2025 any-Australia completed table has a row labelled "Lazard" at #21 (US$1,725m, 3 deals); it may combine Lazard Australia with Lazard's global business, so I don't attribute it.
• Verdict: The target-side adviser for a gentailer or generator receiving a scheme proposal.

6. Goldman Sachs Australia

Goldman Sachs Australia is the large-cap bank that topped LSEG's FY2025 table of announced deals with any Australian involvement (US$26,208m, 28 deals) and was financial adviser to Santos, alongside J.B. North & Co, on the XRG proposal withdrawn in September 2025.

• Licence and office: ASIC licensee 243346, Goldman Sachs Australia Pty Ltd, principal place of business Melbourne. Its ANZ corporate advisory page does not render street addresses to automated readers, so I print none.
• Filed credit (T1): Santos, 16 June 2025, quoted above under Rothschild; withdrawn 18 September 2025.
• League tables: #2 in LSEG's H1 2026 any-Australia announced table (US$10,417m, 13 deals); #7 by value in Mergermarket's 2025 Asia-Pacific energy, mining and utilities table (US$9,536m).
• Verdict: The A$1bn-plus gate. Its only dated ANZ energy credit is a mega-approach that did not complete, so a mid-market seller has nothing on this record to test it against.

7. Clare Capital (Wellington)

Clare Capital is a Wellington advisory boutique, technology-heavy by deal count, that advised Meridian Energy on its NZ$91m scheme to acquire NZ Windfarms in 2025.

• Registration and office: no ASIC licence or authorised-representative match by name. On the New Zealand register, Clare Capital Limited is FSP501847, registered since 10 June 2016, at Level 2, 97 The Terrace, Wellington, the address its own site prints.
• Filed credit (T1). Meridian's release of 19 February 2025, on a scheme at NZ$0.25 a share (NZ$91m equity value): "Meridian is being advised by Russell McVeagh and Clare Capital." Shareholders approved it on 24 June 2025, the High Court on 16 July 2025, and the scheme was implemented on 30 July 2025 (Meridian Integrated Report 2025). Clare's site lists "2025 — Advised Meridian Energy on its acquisition of NZ Windfarms".
• Verdict: The honest small-cap New Zealand name: one real wind credit and a mostly software deal wall.

8. Kidder Williams (Melbourne)

Kidder Williams is a Melbourne independent corporate adviser that acted for the buyer, Palisade Investment Partners, on the A$460m Limestone Coast North battery acquisition in 2025.

• Licence and office: ASIC licensee 300458, Kidder Williams Limited, Level 29, 55 Collins Street, Melbourne (contact page).
• Filed credit (T1): Pacific Green's 8-K: "Palisade were advised by Macquarie Capital, Kidder Williams, KWM, Clayton Utz and Ekistica." Its own tombstone: "Corporate advisor to Palisade Investment Partners on the successful purchase of Limestone Coast North Energy Park — 2025".
• Verdict: The independent on the buy side of the battery sell-down wave, and Azure's counterweight on the same deal.

9. Taylor Collison (Adelaide)

Taylor Collison is an Adelaide-based stockbroking and corporate advisory firm, with a Sydney office, that was financial adviser to Comet Ridge on its purchase of Santos's 42.86% interest in the Mahalo gas project in Queensland (Comet Ridge, December 2025; completed August 2026), the smallest filed energy credit on this bench.

• Licence and offices: ASIC licensee 247083, Taylor Collison Limited, principal place of business Adelaide. Adelaide, Level 16, 211 Victoria Square; Sydney, Level 10, 151 Macquarie Street (contact page).
• Filed credit (T1). Comet Ridge's release of 17 December 2025: "Taylor Collison Limited is acting as financial advisor to Comet Ridge and Corrs Chambers Westgarth is acting as legal advisor to Comet Ridge on the Acquisition." Santos's release put the original terms at A$40m upfront and up to A$20m in contingent payments. After the May 2026 restructure, the firm amount due at completion became A$28m (A$18m in cash and A$10m in shares) with up to A$30m contingent. When the deal completed on 24 August 2026, Comet Ridge paid A$24.42m in cash, after agreed past costs, licence fees, interest and other adjustments, and issued 83.78 million shares to Santos.
• Verdict: The one name the filed record supports for a sub-A$50m gas asset deal; because it is also a stockbroker, ask whether a capital raise is part of the mandate.

Tier three: own dated tombstones, deal corroborated by a counterparty

10. Gresham (Sydney, Melbourne, Perth)

Gresham Advisory Partners is an independent Australian advisory firm with Sydney, Melbourne and Perth offices whose dated energy credits are buy-side infrastructure deals listed on its own transactions page, led by advising Stonepeak on the Allgas gas network acquisition (APA's 20% stake sale completed March 2026).

• Licence and offices: ASIC licensee 247113, Gresham Advisory Partners Limited, Sydney; Gresham Partners Capital (247110) is a separate licensee. Sydney, Level 25, Aurora Place, 88 Phillip Street; Melbourne, Level 12, 101 Collins Street; Perth, Level 11, Brookfield Place Tower 2, 123 St Georges Terrace (contact page).
• Credits (T3, transactions page, year only): 2026, "Advised Stonepeak on its acquisition of Allgas from APA Group, Marubeni Corporation, and State Super"; APA's release of 18 December 2025 confirms "a broader transaction which sees 100% of GDI being sold to Stonepeak" but names no adviser, and APA's 20% stake sale completed on 25 March 2026. 2026, "Advisor to KKR on the acquisition of Zenith Energy", which Azure dates to a June 2025 signing. 2025, "Advisor to Potentia Energy on the acquisition of the DIF & CBUS Renewables Portfolio", not corroborated with a counterparty.
• Trap: the same page mixes debt advisory in with M&A. The Tilt Renewables corporate refinancing and term-loan syndication (A$1,400m and A$850m, 2025) and the Pacific Energy financings (A$1,300m and A$300m, 2025) are debt, not M&A, and I did not count them.
• League tables: #11 in LSEG's FY2025 any-Australia announced table (US$6,068m, 15 deals); 12 deals in LSEG's FY2025 ANZ mid-market table.
• Verdict: The buy-side adviser for an infrastructure fund bidding for a network or an off-grid power business; ask for the filed version of each tombstone.

Conditional, not ranked: J.B. North & Co

J.B. North & Co is a Sydney independent, ASIC licensee 421214 (J.B. North & Co Pty Ltd, principal place of business Randwick, New South Wales), that was co-financial adviser to Santos on the withdrawn XRG proposal. Its website was down when I checked on 7 October 2026, so I could not verify an office, and its one credit did not complete. A real top-tier energy mandate; not enough to rank.

Independent-expert lane: Clarien Partners and Grant Samuel

These firms write the independent expert's or Independent Adviser's report that tells shareholders whether an offer is fair. They are a different hire from the sell-side adviser, so they sit beside the ranking rather than in it.

• Clarien Partners (Auckland). The New Zealand register lists Clarien Partners Limited, FSP52001, at Level 31, Vero Centre, 48 Shortland Street, Auckland, "Previously Known As GRANT SAMUEL & ASSOCIATES LIMITED". Its site says it "is the market leader in preparing independent expert reports for takeovers, mergers, and schemes of arrangement" and that its M&A work focuses on "transactions valued between $10 million and $300 million". Its filed credit is the Manawa booklet's directory entry "Independent Adviser — Grant Samuel & Associates Limited". The trap: a 2025 New Zealand booklet that says "Grant Samuel" now means Clarien. I could not verify the date of the rename.
• Grant Samuel (Sydney and Melbourne). ASIC licensee 240985, Grant Samuel & Associates Pty Limited, Sydney: Level 20, Governor Macquarie Tower, 1 Farrer Place; Melbourne: Level 49, 101 Collins Street (contact page). Its transactions page dates two Energy Locals entries (an acquisition of Arc Energy in December 2025 and a divestment of the retail business in November 2025), but the direction and counterparties are not clear from the tombstones and I could not corroborate them, so I record only that it also works in retail energy. Its 2025-26 independent reports that I found (Qube, South32/Alcoa, Domain) are not energy.

Who advises on upstream oil and gas M&A in Australia?

Azure Capital, Macquarie Capital, Goldman Sachs, J.B. North & Co, Rothschild & Co and Taylor Collison are the firms named in 2025-26 upstream filings, across four very different deals: a contested small-cap bid, a strategic stake, a withdrawn mega-approach and a small asset purchase.

• The contested bid. Azure Capital advised Cue Energy's independent board committee against Horizon Oil from March 2026. The committee's rejection recommendation did not stop Horizon reaching 57.03% by 3 July 2026, which is the honest lesson of a defence: a board adviser shapes the response, but it cannot guarantee the outcome. Our hostile takeover explainer covers the defence toolkit.
• The strategic stake. On 22 July 2025 Carnarvon Energy agreed to take up to 19.9% of Strike Energy for up to A$88m: Macquarie Capital for Strike, Azure for Carnarvon.
• The mega-approach. Santos's board took Goldman Sachs and J.B. North & Co as financial advisers and Rothschild & Co as independent adviser on the XRG consortium's US$5.76-a-share proposal in June 2025. Implementation would have needed approval from "the Foreign Investment Review Board, Australian Securities and Investments Commission, National Offshore Petroleum Titles Administrator, PNG Securities Commission, PNG Independent Consumer and Competition Commission and Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States". On 18 September 2025 Santos said XRG would not agree terms "having regard to the likely extended timeframe to completion and the regulatory risk associated with the transaction".
• The small asset purchase. Santos's release on selling its 42.86% Mahalo joint-venture interest to Comet Ridge (17 December 2025) names no adviser; the buyer's release does: "Taylor Collison Limited is acting as financial advisor to Comet Ridge". The terms were restructured in May 2026 and the deal completed on 24 August 2026.
• A cross-border deal with a gap in the record. Tamboran's Beetaloo deal with Falcon Oil & Gas (announced 30 September 2025, completed 29 May 2026) had Cavendish Capital Markets as Falcon's "exclusive financial advisor"; Cavendish is UK-based with no ANZ office, and Tamboran's own release names only its legal advisers.

For the room itself, start with our oil and gas data room checklist and, for a partial sale of a permit, the farm-out data room guide.

Who advises on selling a battery, wind or solar project in Australia?

Azure Capital is the sell-side name, with four dated battery and wind exits from February 2025 to July 2026; Macquarie Capital and Kidder Williams appear for the buyer; Gresham lists one buy-side renewables portfolio.

The anchor is the A$460m Limestone Coast North battery, the only renewables deal in this guide where a filing names advisers on both sides. Pacific Green's 8-K names Azure, WSP and Allens Linklaters for the seller, and Macquarie Capital, Kidder Williams, KWM, Clayton Utz and Ekistica for Palisade. Intera, Palisade's platform, came back for Summerfield in April 2026, again with Azure on the seller's side by Azure's own account, and BW ESS bought Yanco in July 2026. Azure's tombstone dates Iberdrola's purchase of the Ararat Wind Farm from Partners Group and OPTrust to December 2025, with Azure advising the sellers.

I give no figures for the Capacity Investment Scheme: buyers model it, but I could not read its current targets on a primary source.

The project-level file structure, site control, grid connection and offtake, is in our renewable energy data room guide; it is written for the US market, but the logic carries.

Who advises Australian gentailers such as AGL and Origin on M&A?

None of the 2025-26 Australian generator-retailer releases I read names an adviser, so the nearest filed credits on gentailer deals are New Zealand's: UBS New Zealand with Cameron Partners and Rothschild & Co for Contact and Lazard for Manawa, and Clare Capital for Meridian (next section).

AGL agreed on 10 November 2025 to sell 19.9% of Tilt Renewables to a QIC and Future Fund-led group for A$750m (AGL) without naming an adviser, and Origin's 30 December 2025 release on Kraken's US$1bn raise at a US$8.65bn valuation, which left Origin with 22.7% (Origin), names none either. The advisers on Sembcorp's US$4,327m purchase of Alinta Holdings (December 2025) are not publicly verifiable. A gentailer board should therefore ask any bank pitching for the work which filing names it on a generation or retail deal.

Who are the best M&A advisers for New Zealand gentailers and energy companies?

Lazard Australia, UBS New Zealand, Cameron Partners with Rothschild & Co, and Clare Capital, with Clarien Partners (formerly Grant Samuel's New Zealand arm) as the Independent Adviser.

The Contact Energy acquisition of Manawa Energy is the trans-Tasman reference deal: Contact announced it on 11 September 2024 at NZ$5.95 a share, a 47.6% premium and a Manawa enterprise value of about NZ$2.3bn; it received Commerce Commission clearance on 7 May 2025, the High Court approved it on 3 July 2025 and it completed on 11 July 2025. Lazard advised Manawa; UBS New Zealand and Cameron Partners/Rothschild & Co advised Contact; Grant Samuel & Associates Limited, now Clarien, was the Independent Adviser.

At the small end, Clare Capital advised Meridian Energy on its NZ$91m scheme for NZ Windfarms. Meridian's 24 June 2025 release sets out the vote a New Zealand scheme needs: "75% or more of the votes cast in each interest class and more than 50% of the total number of NZ Windfarms shares on issue" voting in favour. I could not verify who wrote the NZ Windfarms Independent Adviser's report.

The register picture is clean: UBS New Zealand (FSP44063), Cameron Partners (FSP25122), Clare Capital (FSP501847) and Clarien (FSP52001) are all registered. Jarden, the former First NZ Capital, is registered too (FSP3202) but had no named 2025-26 energy credit. For the venture side of the country, see our New Zealand investors guide.

Who advises on Australian gas pipeline and network sales to infrastructure funds?

Gresham is the only adviser I can attach to a 2025-26 Australian gas network deal, and only through its own tombstone: it lists advising Stonepeak on the Allgas acquisition, which APA's filings confirm without naming advisers.

APA agreed on 18 December 2025 to sell its 20% of GDI (EII) Pty Ltd, the Allgas business, to Stonepeak affiliates as part of a sale of 100% of GDI; it completed on 25 March 2026. Earlier, on 19 August 2025, APA agreed to sell its Networks operations and maintenance business to Australian Gas Infrastructure Group (APA), again with no adviser named. Nor did QIC's sale of Epic Energy, owner of the Moomba to Adelaide Pipeline System: Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners agreed to buy it on 27 July 2026 (reported at about A$1bn by the Australian Financial Review), describing it as sourced through "direct engagement with local infrastructure owners"; completion is expected in the second half of 2026 (Morgan Stanley). Gresham also lists advising KKR on Zenith Energy, the off-grid power producer, with Azure on the sell side. For an infrastructure fund on the buy side, Gresham (Stonepeak, KKR) and Macquarie Capital and Kidder Williams (Palisade) are the names this record supports; for the room, see our infrastructure project data room guide.

Who advises on fuel, convenience and EV charging deals in Australia?

UBS, twice, both for Ampol: the A$1.1bn EG Australia acquisition (completed 30 June 2026) and the A$225m Evie Networks agreement (signed 1 October 2026).

EG Australia is also the deal that tested the new merger regime first: it became the first assessment referred to a Phase 2 review after notification became mandatory. The rest of the downstream record is thin. Ampol's Z Energy sold its stake in Channel Infrastructure for about NZ$95m net on 20 March 2025 (Ampol) without naming advisers, and Mergermarket records ENEOS's US$2,170m purchase of Chevron's Asian downstream business, including Chevron Australia Downstream, in May 2026, with advisers I could not verify. Mergermarket's H1 2026 report adds the context: "Australia also activated a national fuel security response as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese warned that prolonged disruption would have mounting economic consequences."

Which advisers act for infrastructure funds and strategic buyers?

For infrastructure funds, Macquarie Capital and Kidder Williams (Palisade) and Gresham (Stonepeak, KKR); for strategic energy buyers, UBS (Ampol; Contact, with Cameron Partners and Rothschild & Co), Clare Capital (Meridian), Azure Capital (Carnarvon, on one strategic stake) and Taylor Collison (Comet Ridge). If you are the seller weighing a fund against a strategic, these are the firms most likely to sit across the table.

Who advises on selling a minority stake in an energy company?

On the 2025-26 record, one minority energy stake has named advisers on both sides: Carnarvon Energy's investment of up to 19.9% in Strike Energy (22 July 2025), with Azure Capital for Carnarvon, the investor, and Macquarie Capital for Strike, the company issuing the shares.

A stake negotiates more than price. Strike's was a two-tranche placement of up to A$88m, the second tranche subject to Strike shareholder approval, and Carnarvon has the right to nominate one of its directors to Strike's board, subject to conditions including its interest staying above 10% (Strike). The other company-stake deals I read name no adviser in their releases: AGL's A$750m sale of 19.9% of Tilt Renewables, and Kraken's US$1bn raise, after which Origin kept 22.7%. If you are raising growth capital for an energy-technology company rather than selling a stake, start with our Australian investors guide.

Which advisers should an energy board appoint after an unsolicited approach or takeover bid?

A financial adviser and lawyers at once, as Santos did with Goldman Sachs, J.B. North & Co and Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer, and Cue Energy's board committee did with Azure Capital and Gilbert + Tobin; an independent board adviser for a large or conflicted approach, as Santos added Rothschild & Co; and an independent expert only where the law requires one. I call the dividing line the 30% Expert Line.

The 2025-26 precedents. Santos made its appointments when the XRG consortium approached in June 2025. Cue's target's statement records that "Azure Capital has consented to being named in this Target's Statement as the financial adviser to Cue". Manawa, facing Contact's scheme, took Lazard as target-side financial adviser.

When an independent expert is required. Cue's target's statement answers it plainly: "Appointment and production of an independent expert report is not a legal requirement in the context of the Offer. It is only required where a bidder owns more than 30% of the target or if there is a common director." The statutory line, in section 640 of the Corporations Act, is in fact 30% or more: ASIC's RG 111 says the target must commission an expert report "when the bidder's voting power in the target is at least 30% of the target or when the bidder and the target have common directors". Where a report is written, ASIC treats it as advice: "the expert report usually constitutes financial product advice, triggering the need for an AFS licence" (RG 112.11), and its content is governed by RG 111, issued in October 2020.

New Zealand is different. Both New Zealand energy schemes on this page carried an Independent Adviser's report. The Contact–Manawa scheme implementation agreement defines the Independent Adviser as "the person appointed by the Target and approved by the Takeovers Panel", and the NZ Windfarms board's recommendation of Meridian's scheme was "subject to the Independent Adviser concluding in its report that the consideration is within or above the Independent Adviser's valuation range".

So the hiring sequence differs by market: in Australia, a financial adviser first and an expert only at or above the 30% line or with a common director; in a New Zealand scheme, plan for both from day one.

Which advisers take A$10m to A$50m, A$50m to A$250m and A$250m-plus energy mandates?

The filed record is deep above A$250m, real between A$50m and A$250m, and down to a single credit below A$50m. That thin bottom end is a gap in public evidence, not proof that these firms refuse small mandates.

At the bottom of the range, the honest options are an independent with an energy record that will show you references at your size, or a Big-4 or mid-tier accounting firm's corporate finance team. The latter lead the all-sector tables by count: in LSEG's FY2025 review of Australia and New Zealand deals up to US$500m, PwC advised on 45 deals, Grant Thornton on 19 (LSEG mid-market review, FY2025). None of them surfaced with a named 2025-26 energy M&A credit, so ask for one. Clarien Partners, the New Zealand expert house, describes its own M&A work as focused on transactions valued between $10 million and $300 million.

Do I need a Perth adviser for a Western Australian gas or power asset?

Not necessarily, but Western Australia is a different market, with its own grid, its own wholesale market and its own regulator, and the buyer pool knows it. I call the check the Two-Grid Test.

The National Electricity Market spans "five physically connected regions on the east coast of Australia: Queensland, New South Wales (which includes the ACT), Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia", runs "from Port Douglas in Queensland to Port Lincoln in South Australia - a distance of around 5,000 kilometres", and delivers "around 200 terawatt hours of electricity annually, supplying around 80% of Australia's electricity consumption" (AEMC). The same page says: "Western Australia and the Northern Territory are not connected to the NEM." The NEM was established in 1998, and the AEMC is "one of three market bodies responsible for energy in Australia" (AEMC), alongside AEMO, the market operator, and the AER, the regulator.

In WA, "The Wholesale Electricity Market supplies electricity to more than a million households and businesses in the State's south-west via the South West Interconnected System (SWIS)"; it "commenced in September 2006", and the new market "commenced in October 2023" (Energy Policy WA). Its procedures are amended by "the Coordinator of Energy, AEMO, the ERA and Western Power", and the ERA is "Western Australia's independent economic regulator".

The Perth bench for energy: Azure Capital is headquartered there, with a WA gas credit (Carnarvon and Strike); Gresham has a Perth office. Barrenjoey has a Perth office too, but its 2025 Perth credit is a gold deal. The Perth-based resources desks (Sternship, Euroz Hartleys, Argonaut) belong to the Perth city guide rather than this one. If your likeliest buyer is an east-coast strategic or a global fund, it is worth interviewing a Sydney or Melbourne desk alongside the Perth one (our Sydney M&A advisers guide covers the Sydney bench); for the wider Perth bench, see our Perth M&A advisers guide.

Why can't you see who advised on most ASX energy asset sales?

Because the sellers' own releases don't name them. I call it the Asset-Sale Silence: of the 2025-26 asset and stake deals by ASX energy majors I read, none named an adviser.

The adviser-of-record trail for asset deals lives on the other side: in the counterparty's filing (US-listed Pacific Green's 8-K named the financial advisers on both sides of one battery deal, and Comet Ridge's release named Taylor Collison on Santos's Mahalo sale) or on a firm's own tombstone wall. For a seller choosing an adviser, the practical question follows: which filing names you? A firm that can point to a counterparty's document naming it has a credit you can check; a firm that can point only to its own logo wall has a claim.

What is the dated adviser-of-record ledger for ANZ energy in 2025-26?

Fifteen deals, each with the adviser, the role and the strongest source I could open. A T3 row is the firm's own tombstone and is labelled so.

Six in-scope deals carry no public adviser name. I use them for market colour only: Ampol's Channel Infrastructure stake sale (March 2025), APA's Networks sale (August 2025), AGL's Tilt stake sale (November 2025), Sembcorp's Alinta purchase (December 2025, US$4,327m), Origin's Kraken release (December 2025) and ENEOS's Chevron downstream purchase (May 2026, US$2,170m).

Are league tables a good way to pick an energy adviser?

As context only. None of the public tables is an energy-only ANZ table: Mergermarket's sector table includes mining, LSEG's Australian tables cover every sector, and the headline rankings are by value, so a single megadeal can carry a firm up the list.

Mergermarket's own caveat, from its Deal Drivers APAC FY2025 report: "The advisor league tables by value and volume have been run from January 01, 2025 to December 31, 2025 and exclude lapsed and withdrawn deals. The tables are based on advice to an Asia Pacific-based bidder, target or vendor and cover the EMU sector." Two consequences: the withdrawn Santos and XRG proposal is not in it, and mining is. In that table Australia was the fourth-largest bidder country by value (US$6,353m) and second by number of deals (127). Use the tables to confirm that a bank is active in Australia; use the ledger above to decide whether it is active in your kind of energy deal.

How long does an energy deal take to close, and what sets the clock?

Between about four and eleven months on the 2025-26 record, depending on how many regulatory gates apply. I call it the Three-Gate Clock: competition (ACCC or the Commerce Commission), foreign investment (FIRB or New Zealand's Overseas Investment Office) and the sector or title regulator, plus a court for any scheme.

For an all-sector comparison, across 334 M&A transactions run on Peony the average deal took about 8.6 months to close. The energy record above brackets that number: small domestic deals close faster, and anything with a Phase 2 or a foreign state buyer runs longer or dies.

What changed with ACCC merger control on 1 January 2026?

Notification became mandatory for acquisitions above the thresholds, and completion now waits for ACCC approval. The ACCC's own release, reproduced on the ASX on 21 January 2026, says: "From 1 January 2026, it is mandatory for businesses to notify the ACCC of any acquisition that meets the notification thresholds set by the Minister. They must wait for ACCC approval before they can proceed."

• Thresholds (Competition and Consumer (Notification of Acquisitions) Determination 2025, current compilation in force from 1 January 2026): a deal is notifiable where the combined Australian revenue of acquirer and target is A$200m or more and either the target's Australian revenue is A$50m or more or the transaction value is A$250m or more; separately, where the acquirer's group revenue is A$500m or more and the target's is A$10m or more. A further test aggregates creeping acquisitions over three years.
• Fees (same instrument): A$56,800 to notify; A$8,300 for a waiver application; a Phase 2 fee of A$475,000, A$855,000 or A$1,595,000 for deals up to A$50m, from A$50m to A$1bn, and above A$1bn respectively; a small-business exemption applies.
• Timing: the ACCC "is required to make a decision in 15 to 30 business days" in Phase 1, and "a Phase 2 assessment can take up to 90 business days".
• The first test case was an energy deal. Ampol lodged its EG Australia notification on 10 October 2025, before the regime became mandatory. The ACCC's 21 January 2026 release called it "the first assessment to be subject to a Phase 2 review under the new merger control regime, which became mandatory on 1 January 2026", and its 2 March 2026 notice followed. The ACCC's public material referred to 115 EG sites and the Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney metropolitan areas; it approved the deal on 3 June 2026, conditional on Ampol divesting 41 sites (Ampol, Jun 2026).

For an energy seller, the practical point is simple: if your buyer is a large strategic, build an ACCC timetable into the sale agreement, and ask your adviser who on their team has run a notification since January.

Which FIRB, NOPTA and New Zealand approvals can a foreign buyer of an energy asset face?

Usually FIRB for a foreign buyer, often a title or sector regulator for oil and gas, and New Zealand's Overseas Investment Office for a New Zealand asset. The thresholds below apply from 1 January 2026 (FIRB monetary thresholds, updated 2 January 2026).

Whether a given electricity, gas or pipeline asset is a "national security business" depends on the regulations' definitions, which I could not read in full; confirm it with counsel before you set a timetable. The flow is heavy: FIRB's January to March 2026 quarterly report shows 311 commercial approvals worth A$79.7bn in the quarter, with Singapore the largest source (A$16.0bn), then the US (A$12.5bn) and the UAE (A$10.1bn). "Manufacturing, electricity & gas" took 37 approvals worth A$9.7bn in the quarter, 109 worth A$23.0bn in 2025-26 to date, against 161 worth A$13.0bn in all of 2024-25. National-security approvals in 2025-26 to date were 65 mandatory and 30 voluntary.

For upstream oil and gas, the Santos and XRG proposal, on which Goldman Sachs, J.B. North & Co and Rothschild & Co advised Santos, shows the full stack: FIRB, ASIC, the National Offshore Petroleum Titles Administrator, two Papua New Guinea regulators and the US Committee on Foreign Investment. The proposal was withdrawn citing "the regulatory risk associated with the transaction".

New Zealand. LINZ's guidance (updated 6 March 2026) says consent for significant business assets is triggered by a "more than 25% ownership or control interest", that the threshold is "usually $100 million", and that "For some Australian investors the threshold for 2025 is $650 million and for 2026 is $676 million (updated annually by Gazette), and for parties to certain other free trade agreements the threshold is $200 million." It also notes notification may be needed for "a strategically important business". On competition, the Commerce Commission's clearance of Contact and Manawa (7 May 2025) is the recent New Zealand energy precedent.

How do gas market rules affect what a buyer will pay?

They cap the price a buyer can model for some east-coast gas and, in 2026, they changed live deal terms. Two instruments matter.

The mandatory gas code. The Competition and Consumer (Gas Market Code) Regulations 2023 (Federal Register of Legislation), in force since 11 July 2023, set a "reasonable price" of "$12 per gigajoule" under section 29 unless the ACCC determines otherwise. There are deemed exemptions, including for small suppliers supplying the domestic market (section 55) and for exports (section 47), and conditional ministerial exemptions need both the Energy Minister and the Resources Minister (section 61). A buyer's adviser will test which of your contracts sit inside the cap and which exemption, if any, you rely on.

East-coast gas reservation. On 21 May 2026 Comet Ridge restructured its Mahalo purchase from Santos, citing "very recent uncertainty in the market resulting from the Federal Government's announcements relating to a gas reservation policy, the details of which have not been fully released" (Comet Ridge). It cut the up-front cash and extended completion by three months; the deal completed on 24 August 2026. I give no policy details because I could not read them on a primary source. The lesson for a gas seller is to expect price-adjustment and timing clauses tied to policy announcements, and to hire an adviser who has negotiated one.

Can my M&A adviser also be my lender?

Yes, and on one 2025 deal in this guide it was. Strike Energy's adviser on Carnarvon's investment was Macquarie Capital, and the same release refers to "remaining Macquarie facilities". That is not improper, but it is a conflict you should manage on paper. I call it the Balance-Sheet Banker test.

Ask three things in writing before you sign: how the advisory team is walled from the lending team, whether the bank's lending position benefits from one outcome over another (a refinancing, an equity raise, a sale), and whether the engagement letter or fee is linked to any facility. None of the independents on this bench (Kidder Williams, Clare Capital, Gresham) appears as a lender in any filing I read. Azure Capital is a different case: since May 2019 it has been "an independently operated affiliate of Natixis" (Azure), and its own transactions page lists Natixis CIB among the lenders on Zenith Energy's A$1.9bn refinancing (February 2025) and as a joint underwriter of Frontier Energy's Waroona debt (July 2026), so put the same three questions to Azure. Santos, for one, added Rothschild & Co as an independent board adviser beside its two financial advisers.

Who did we leave off, and why?

Most firms below were checked against ASIC's licence data or the New Zealand register; each lacks a named 2025-26 ANZ energy M&A credit, or fails on scope or office.

Stale brands. "Credit Suisse" has no ASIC licensee match and is now UBS. Greenhill's licence still reads "GREENHILL & CO. AUSTRALIA PTY LIMITED" (224482) and the business is now under Mizuho. Duff & Phelps is now Kroll, and Kroll Australia Pty Ltd is an authorised representative (001293043) of licensee 284336. Grant Samuel's New Zealand arm is now Clarien Partners. First NZ Capital is now Jarden.

Analysts are not advisers. Jarden and Barrenjoey appear in Woodside's SEC earnings-call transcripts as research analysts. That is coverage, not an M&A mandate.

Debt is not M&A. Several walls mix financings in with sales: Gresham (Tilt Renewables, Pacific Energy), Grant Samuel (A$175m of Delta Electricity senior debt, May 2025), Azure (Kondinin, Waroona, Zenith's A$1.9bn financing) and Flagstaff (Marinus Link). I counted none of them.

Doorway pages. Directory pages that list "energy M&A advisers Australia" with no licence numbers and no dated deals are not advisers of record; I did not name specific sites because I did not audit them.

Mining. Bannerman and CNNC (uranium), Yancoal's Kestrel deal and Dhilmar's purchase from Anglo (coal), and Alcoa and South32 (aluminium) are out of scope even where UBS, Azure or Canaccord worked on them.

How do I verify an M&A adviser in Australia?

Check the licence on ASIC's own data, read the booklet's consents and directory, check New Zealand firms on the FSPR, and ask which filing names the firm. It takes an afternoon.

1. Licence or authorised-representative status. ASIC's Regulatory Guide 36 lists a decision to "(c) accept or reject a takeover offer" as a decision about a financial product, which is why every Australian takeover and scheme adviser sits on ASIC's licensee or authorised-representative register. Download the monthly AFS licensee dataset and the authorised-representative dataset from data.gov.au and search the legal entity, not the brand. Two examples of why: Cameron Partners holds no licence of its own but is authorised representative 000341706 of Rothschild & Co Australia (licence 239059), and Lazard Australia was an authorised representative under another licence until it got its own (531701) on 17 February 2022.
2. The booklet's consents and corporate directory. A scheme booklet or target's statement names each adviser under "Consents" and lists it, with an address, in the back-page directory. Cue's target's statement does both for Azure Capital; Manawa's booklet directory names Lazard and the Independent Adviser.
3. New Zealand firms. Search the Financial Service Providers Register by name and read the "Previously Known As" line: that is how you learn that Grant Samuel & Associates Limited is now Clarien Partners, and that Jarden Securities was First NZ Capital Securities. I verified registration, not whether registration is legally required for each firm's activity.
4. Strip out debt and mining. On a firm's tombstone wall, cross out refinancings, project financings and mining deals before you count its energy M&A.
5. Ask which filing names you. Ask for the last three energy mandates with the counterparty and the month, and for the filing, booklet or counterparty release that names the firm.

What does an energy M&A adviser charge in Australia and New Zealand?

No Australian or New Zealand survey publishes energy adviser fees, so any percentage you are quoted is a negotiation, not a market rate. What I can give you is the nearest primary data and the fees that are fixed.

The nearest survey is not Australian. Our M&A adviser fees guide sets out the Firmex/Axial composite: about 4.8% of transaction value at US$5m, 3.4% at US$20m and 2.0% at US$100m, with the curve falling further on large deals and a monthly work fee that usually credits against the success fee. Treat those as a reference point for structure, not an Australian price list.

The regulatory bill is fixed. An ACCC notification costs A$56,800, and a Phase 2 review costs A$475,000, A$855,000 or A$1,595,000 depending on deal size. An independent expert's report, where required, is a separate engagement; I could not find a primary source for typical Australian expert fees.

What to negotiate. Put four things in the engagement letter: the definition of transaction value (whether assumed debt, earn-outs and deferred consideration count), the tail period, the expense cap, and, where the bank also lends to you, the conflict protocol described above.

Which data room should an energy seller use?

Size the room to the process: on an A$1bn-plus sell-side run by a large bank, expect Datasite or Intralinks; for a mid-market battery, solar, gas or network sale, a per-admin room with per-bidder controls covers what matters.

Which data room platforms do Australian investment banks and corporates use for M&A? No filing I read names the data room on any deal in the ledger, so I won't pretend to know which bank used which. The market structure is public: Datasite and SS&C's Intralinks are the global incumbents, and Sydney-founded Ansarada was taken private on 6 September 2024 by "an entity owned by funds managed by CapVest" (ASX, Sep 2024), Datasite's private-equity owner, and now sits with Datasite. Our Ansarada pricing teardown and Datasite pricing guide cover their quote models, and the VDR cost guide compares the field. The cross-sector answer, for processes run out of Sydney, is in our Sydney M&A advisers guide; the rest of this section is about what an energy room must hold.

What the room has to do in an energy sale. Organise it around the papers a buyer underwrites: for a battery, wind or solar asset, site control, the grid connection agreement and connection studies, and the offtake or revenue contracts (renewable energy data room); for oil and gas, titles, the reserves report, the technical data and the joint-venture agreements (oil and gas data room checklist); for a network or pipeline, the regulatory and contract files (infrastructure data room). When the bidders are competitors, as they usually are in a gentailer or fuels deal, give each bidder its own room, stage the commercially sensitive contracts behind a later gate, and watermark every page with the viewer's identity.

Where Peony fits, and where it doesn't. I run Peony, a data room company with 8,000+ customers, so treat this as a disclosed interest. Pricing is per admin per month in US dollars, and bidders who only view are not charged:

For a single A$50m-A$500m battery, solar or gas asset sale, the Data Room plan is the one I would use; an adviser running several sales at once fits Deal Team. Where Peony loses: on an A$1bn-plus bank-run sell-side, a Santos-scale approach or an EG-sized carve-out, most counsel will specify Datasite or Intralinks, and you should not fight that. I make no Australian data-hosting claim here: if a buyer, a regulator or your board needs onshore hosting, put that question to every vendor in writing before you choose. Peony's SOC 2 status is Type II-ready, with the audit in progress. More on the energy setup is on our energy solutions page and pricing page.

Frequently asked questions

Who are the best energy M&A advisers in Australia and New Zealand in 2026?

Ranked on dated 2025-26 adviser-of-record credits in counterparty filings, tier one is Azure Capital (Perth; Cue Energy's board committee against Horizon Oil, the A$460m Limestone Coast North battery sale, Carnarvon's stake in Strike), Macquarie Capital (Strike; buy-side on Limestone Coast North), UBS (Ampol on EG Australia and Evie Networks; Contact Energy on Manawa) and Rothschild & Co with its New Zealand authorised representative Cameron Partners (the Santos board; Contact). Tier two is Lazard, Goldman Sachs, Clare Capital, Kidder Williams and Taylor Collison; Gresham is tier three on its own tombstones. Mining is out of scope. I run Peony, a data room company with 8,000+ customers, and I listed only firms a filing or a dated tombstone names.

Which investment banks advise on oil and gas M&A in Australia?

Filings on four 2025-26 deals name them. Goldman Sachs and J.B. North & Co were Santos's financial advisers, and Rothschild & Co its independent board adviser, on the XRG consortium's US$5.76-a-share proposal of 16 June 2025, which was withdrawn on 18 September 2025. Macquarie Capital advised Strike Energy and Azure Capital advised Carnarvon Energy on Carnarvon's strategic stake of up to 19.9% in Strike (22 July 2025). Azure also advised Cue Energy's independent board committee against Horizon Oil's 2026 takeover bid; the committee recommended rejection, and Horizon still reached 57.03% on 3 July 2026. Taylor Collison advised Comet Ridge on buying Santos's 42.86% Mahalo gas interest (agreed December 2025, completed August 2026).

Who advises on selling a solar, wind or battery storage project in Australia?

Azure Capital has the deepest dated record. Pacific Green's SEC filing names it as the seller's adviser on the A$460m Limestone Coast North battery sale to Palisade's Intera Renewables (February 2025), and its own tombstones add the Ararat Wind Farm sale to Iberdrola (December 2025), the Summerfield battery sale to Intera (April 2026) and the Yanco battery sale to BW ESS (July 2026). On the buy side, the same filing names Macquarie Capital and Kidder Williams for Palisade. Gresham lists advising Potentia Energy on the DIF and CBUS renewables portfolio in 2025, a tombstone I could not corroborate with the counterparty.

Who are the best energy M&A advisers in New Zealand?

The Contact Energy and Manawa Energy scheme, completed on 11 July 2025, is the reference deal: Lazard Australia advised Manawa, UBS New Zealand and Cameron Partners with Rothschild & Co advised Contact, and Grant Samuel & Associates Limited, now Clarien Partners, was the Independent Adviser. Clare Capital of Wellington advised Meridian Energy on its NZ$91m scheme for NZ Windfarms in 2025. On the Financial Service Providers Register, UBS New Zealand is FSP44063, Cameron Partners FSP25122, Clare Capital FSP501847 and Clarien FSP52001. Cameron Partners is also listed by ASIC as an authorised representative of Rothschild & Co Australia.

Which investment banks advise on Australian gas pipeline, network and fuel deals?

For networks, Gresham lists advising Stonepeak on its acquisition of Allgas from APA Group, Marubeni and State Super; APA's 18 December 2025 release confirms the sale but names no adviser, and APA's own 20% stake sale completed on 25 March 2026. Gresham also lists advising KKR on Zenith Energy, the off-grid power producer, with Azure Capital on Zenith's side. For fuels and charging, UBS advised Ampol on the A$1.1bn EG Australia acquisition, completed on 30 June 2026, and on the A$225m Evie Networks agreement of 1 October 2026. Who advised on ENEOS's purchase of Chevron's Australian fuel business is not publicly verifiable.

Our ASX-listed energy company has received an unsolicited approach. Which advisers should the board appoint?

Usually a financial adviser and lawyers, sometimes an independent board adviser, and an independent expert only when the law requires one. Santos appointed Goldman Sachs and J.B. North & Co as financial advisers and Rothschild & Co as independent board adviser on the XRG approach in June 2025; Cue Energy's independent board committee appointed Azure Capital and Gilbert + Tobin against Horizon Oil in 2026. Under section 640 of the Corporations Act, an independent expert's report is required only where the bidder's voting power is 30% or more or there is a common director. Both New Zealand energy schemes on this page carried an Independent Adviser's report.

We want to sell a minority stake in our energy company, not the whole business. Who has advised on that?

On the 2025-26 record, one minority energy stake has named advisers on both sides: Carnarvon Energy's investment of up to 19.9% in Strike Energy (22 July 2025), a two-tranche placement of up to A$88m, with Azure Capital advising Carnarvon and Macquarie Capital advising Strike. Carnarvon also gained the right to nominate one of its directors to Strike's board, subject to conditions. AGL's A$750m sale of 19.9% of Tilt Renewables to a QIC and Future Fund-led group (November 2025) and Origin's release on Kraken's US$1bn raise, which left Origin with 22.7%, name no adviser. Macquarie was also Strike's lender, so ask any bank pitching for a stake mandate how it manages that conflict.

We could sell to an infrastructure fund or to a strategic energy buyer. Which advisers have worked for each?

On the 2025-26 record, infrastructure funds used Macquarie Capital and Kidder Williams (Palisade, on the A$460m Limestone Coast North battery) and Gresham (Stonepeak on Allgas and KKR on Zenith Energy, both on Gresham's own tombstones). Strategic energy buyers used UBS (Ampol on EG Australia and Evie Networks), UBS New Zealand with Cameron Partners and Rothschild & Co (Contact on Manawa), Clare Capital (Meridian on NZ Windfarms), Azure Capital (Carnarvon on its Strike stake) and Taylor Collison (Comet Ridge on Mahalo). On the sell side, Azure Capital advised the sellers of two batteries to Palisade's Intera platform: Limestone Coast North in 2025 and, on its own tombstone, Summerfield in 2026. Whichever buyer you favour, these are the advisers most likely to sit across the table.

I own an A$40 million energy business. Is it too small for these advisers?

Not necessarily, but the public record is thin at your size. The smallest dated credit on this bench is Taylor Collison's for Comet Ridge on Santos's Mahalo gas interest: A$28m at completion plus up to A$30m in contingent payments (completed August 2026). Next come Carnarvon's investment of up to A$88m in Strike Energy (Azure Capital for Carnarvon, Macquarie Capital for Strike) and Meridian's NZ$91m scheme for NZ Windfarms (Clare Capital). A thin public record is not the same as refusing such work, so ask Azure, Kidder Williams, Clare or Taylor Collison for two references at your size. Big-4 corporate finance teams lead the all-sector mid-market tables (PwC had 45 Australia and New Zealand deals in LSEG's FY2025 review), but no named 2025-26 energy credit surfaced for them.

Do I need a Perth adviser if my gas or power asset is in Western Australia?

Not necessarily, but Western Australia is a separate market and buyers price it that way. The National Electricity Market covers Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia; Western Australia and the Northern Territory are not connected to it. WA's south-west runs on the South West Interconnected System through a Wholesale Electricity Market that began in September 2006, with a new market that commenced in October 2023, and the ERA is the state's independent economic regulator. Azure Capital is headquartered in Perth and holds a dated WA gas credit (Carnarvon and Strike, 2025); Gresham also has a Perth office.

Does my energy deal need ACCC approval in 2026?

If it meets the thresholds, yes: since 1 January 2026 notification has been mandatory and you must wait for approval before completing. Under the Notification of Acquisitions Determination 2025, a deal is notifiable where the parties' combined Australian revenue is A$200m or more and either the target's is A$50m or more or the transaction value is A$250m or more; a second test catches acquirers with A$500m or more and targets with A$10m or more. The notification fee is A$56,800. Phase 1 takes 15 to 30 business days and Phase 2 up to 90. Ampol's EG Australia deal was the first sent to Phase 2.

We have a foreign buyer for our energy business. What FIRB and New Zealand overseas-investment thresholds apply in 2026?

In Australia, from 1 January 2026, a private investor not from one of FIRB's listed FTA partner countries is screened above A$347m for a substantial interest in an entity; investors from partners such as New Zealand, Japan, Singapore, the US and the UK are screened above A$1,498m, or A$347m for sensitive businesses; national security businesses and foreign-government investors start at A$0. Whether your asset is a national security business is a question for counsel. In New Zealand, consent for significant business assets is usually needed above NZ$100m, NZ$676m for some Australian investors in 2026 and NZ$200m for certain other FTA partners, for a more-than-25% interest.

How long does an energy M&A deal take to close in Australia or New Zealand?

Between about four and eleven months on 2025-26 deals, set by how many regulatory gates apply. Horizon Oil took control of Cue Energy about four months after bidding (2 March to 3 July 2026). Meridian's NZ Windfarms scheme took about five and a half months from agreement to implementation on 30 July 2025. Contact and Manawa took about ten months, with Commerce Commission clearance and a High Court hearing, and Ampol and EG Australia about ten and a half, including the ACCC's first Phase 2 review. The XRG proposal for Santos never got that far: it was withdrawn after three months, citing timeframe and regulatory risk.

How do I check an Australian or New Zealand M&A adviser's licence?

ASIC's Regulatory Guide 36 lists a decision to accept or reject a takeover offer as a decision about a financial product, which is why Australian takeover and scheme advisers sit on ASIC's registers. Download ASIC's AFS licensee and authorised-representative datasets from data.gov.au and search the legal entity: Azure Capital Pty Ltd is licence 276569, Kidder Williams Limited 300458, and Cameron Partners is authorised representative 000341706 of Rothschild & Co Australia (licence 239059). Then read the booklet's consents and corporate directory, which name each adviser with an address. For New Zealand firms, search the Financial Service Providers Register.

What will an M&A adviser charge to sell my energy business in Australia?

No Australian survey publishes energy adviser fees, so treat any percentage as negotiable. The nearest primary data is not Australian: the Firmex/Axial composite in our fee guide runs about 4.8% of transaction value at US$5m, 3.4% at US$20m and 2.0% at US$100m, falling further on large deals. What is fixed in Australia is the regulatory bill: an ACCC notification costs A$56,800 and a Phase 2 review A$475,000 to A$1,595,000 depending on deal size. Put the transaction-value definition, the tail period and, where your bank also lends to you, the conflict protocol in the engagement letter.

Which data room should I use to sell an Australian energy asset?

Match the room to the process. On an A$1bn-plus sell-side run by a large bank, counsel will usually name Datasite or Intralinks, and Sydney-founded Ansarada has been Datasite-owned since 2024. For a battery, solar, gas or network sale below that, I run Peony, a data room company with 8,000+ customers: the Data Room plan is US$52 per admin per month billed annually (US$75 monthly) for unlimited rooms, dynamic watermarking, signed NDAs and an audit trail; Business at US$30 covers up to three rooms; Deal Team at US$64 adds redaction, with a four-admin minimum. Ask any vendor where your data will be hosted.

Related resources

• Best M&A Advisers: the master hub, by city, state and sector
• Best Energy M&A Advisers in the US: the US upstream, midstream, power and renewables bench, for a cross-border buyer list
• Best M&A Advisers in Perth: the Western Australian bench, including the resources desks this page leaves out
• Best M&A Advisers in Sydney: the Sydney bench across sectors
• Best M&A Advisers in Calgary: the other energy capital in our series, and how an A&D process differs from a corporate sale
• Best M&A Advisers in London: the dated-ledger format this page follows
• Investors in Australia and Investors in New Zealand: the venture side, for an energy-technology company raising rather than selling
• M&A Adviser Fees: Lehman scales, retainers, tails and minimums
• Best Data Rooms for Oil and Gas Companies: vendors scored for upstream processes
• Renewable Energy Data Room: the four papers a solar or storage project sells on
• Data Room for Infrastructure Projects: the project-finance room for networks and contracted assets
• What Is a Hostile Takeover?: defences and precedents for a board facing a bid
• Sell-Side Due Diligence: what to prepare before the adviser launches

This article reflects my views as of 7 October 2026 and is informational, not legal, tax or investment advice. Licences, brands, ownership and deal status change; verify current status on ASIC's licence data, the New Zealand Financial Service Providers Register and the latest exchange filings before relying on them. I am the co-founder of Peony, a data room company, and I have flagged that interest where Peony is mentioned.