Corrs advised Foster’s Group on all aspects of the $12 billion demerger of its Beer and Wine businesses

Corrs was responsible for drafting agreements covering the separation of hardware, software and other IT assets associated with the demerger and the provision of transitional services by Foster’s Group to the demerged entity.

The Corrs team conducted a detailed review of several hundred contracts between Foster’s Group and its IT vendors to determine the appropriate treatment of each contract in preparation for the demerger, and prepared and assisted in negotiating agreements with those vendors where necessary.

The transaction was highly complex due to the arrangements required to separate a fully integrated IT infrastructure which was mid-way through the implementation of a major new ERP system.

The demerger also took place in a very tight timeframe. This was the largest M&A transaction of 2011, and is recognition of the excellence in client service and longstanding relationship between the Corrs team and Foster’s Group.

NBN Co outsourcing to Fujitsu

NBN Co was recently involved in an extensive procurement process that has seen Fujitsu Australia Limited appointed to deliver end user technologies to all NBN employees, including laptops and mobile phones.

The deal required Corrs to have an in-depth understanding of the latest technologies, commercial models for outsourcing and the contractual and legal issues associated with the deal.

Corrs was able to negotiate an agreement that provided price certainty for NBN Co – a critical factor in mitigating risk for a new company whose employee growth potential is still a relative unknown.

NBN Co: BSS/OSS Project

One of the most critical components in the National Broadband Network’s successful roll out Australia wide was an extensive evaluation and negotiation process that saw IBM, Accenture and Alcatel Lucent appointed to supply business and operational software support systems.

Corrs advised NBN Co and was involved in the procurement, negotiation and structuring aspects of this major systems integration project.

The contractual structure of the arrangement was highly complex, and Corrs was able to bring extensive knowledge of telecommunications networks and the associated technology to negotiate a risk sharing model with which all parties were comfortable.

Outsourcing management of NAB’s data centres and information technology infrastructure to IBM

The outsourcing management of NAB’s data centre and IT infrastructure to IBM was a very complex project that had been a number of years in the planning and is of major significance to NAB’s future activities.

Corrs advised NAB on the matter which involved drafting and negotiating a long term contract with IBM.

The services are of utmost importance to the NAB as they allow for the functioning of NAB’s business critical applications such as its inter-bank payments and exchange gateway, internet banking and its ATM network.

Under the contract IBM acquired NAB’s existing computing infrastructure within NAB’s Australian data centres and assumed responsibility for the associated software licences; approximately 450 NAB staff were transferred to IBM; IBM assumed responsibility for managing NAB’s computing infrastructure in Australia to provide information technology services to NAB entities throughout the world; and IBM committed to transform NAB’s information technology platforms over a number of years, by consolidating the existing data centres and replacing old technology platforms with new technologies in a phased manner throughout the life of the contract.