Bell Gully corporate partner and former chair Anna Buchly has been included in IFLR1000’s Women Leaders 2021, an elite cohort of the leading female transactional experts in local markets globally.

IFLR1000 noted Anna’s impressive track record as well as her consistent recommendations by both clients and peers, selecting her for the 2021 Women Leaders list alongside many notable women across the world. A Q&A with Anna is published here.

Chair Andrew Petersen: “Anna’s inclusion on this prestigious list is certainly well-deserved. Anna always leads by example, advising many of the firm’s key clients on a range of significant matters, but also driving diversity and inclusion initiatives within the firm.”

Anna Buchly: “It’s an honour to be recognised alongside so many deserving women leaders. Women representation within law firms continues to grow and develop and I’m proud to part of this effort both in New Zealand and on the global stage.”

Anna continues to play a key role advising on the most significant M&A transactions in the market and is well sought after both locally and internationally. Over the past 12 months, Anna has advised:

the EQT Infrastructure IV Fund on its acquisition of NZX listed Metlifecare by way of a scheme of arrangement, EQT’s first investment into Oceania,
Mataura Valley Milk on its NZ$268 million investment by the a2 Milk Company, and
Bentley Systems, Incorporated, the leading NASDAQ-listed infrastructure engineering software company, on the proposed acquisition of Seequent, a world leader in developing 3D geological modelling software, headquartered in Christchurch, for US$1.05 billion.

Inclusion on the IFLR1000’s Women Leaders 2021 is the latest in a number of awards for Anna. During her time as Bell Gully chair, she was awarded Managing Partner of the Year at both the 2019 and 2020 New Zealand Law Awards. In addition, at the 2020 INFINZ Awards, Anna won the Hunter Campbell Diversity and Inclusion award. Anna was recognised for encouraging and nurturing diversity, in particular around gender and diverse representation at all levels.

In a recent announcement, Anna has been shortlisted for NZ Dealmaker of the Year at the 2021 Australasian Law Awards which will be announced in mid-June. Bell Gully’s corporate team has also been shortlisted for NZ Deal Firm of the Year.