Three Russell McVeagh partners have joined forces to form the new Auckland office of Anderson Lloyd.

From today Monday, Geoff Busch, Chris Bargery and David Holden will lead a primarily transactions-focused practice, concentrating on corporate, mergers and acquisitions, banking and finance, infrastructure and public private partnerships (PPPs). These specialisations will be complemented by the strengths of the wider firm in environmental, planning and natural resources; corporate and commercial; property; insurance; energy; agribusiness and irrigation.

All three partners have worked offshore and their expertise is recognised in a number of international legal directories.

Geoff Busch says the trio felt it was time for a change involving a fresh approach to transactions and projects:

"There's a lot of synergy between Anderson Lloyd's expertise and the transactional and infrastructure focused work that the three of us do. Their partner base has a uniformly high quality and includes some leading corporate and infrastructure lawyers who've worked on very significant transactions.

"We liked the fact that our clients will get the best of both worlds - the efficiency and attention of a smart boutique, backed by the horsepower of a large national firm."

Holden says he was attracted to the culture of Anderson Lloyd:

"Anderson Lloyd is very different - they're exceptionally collaborative and approach projects by forming lean, expert teams. The internal culture actively encourages people to pool their specialist expertise.

"This approach will allow us to work on a wider range of deals and have more time to focus on the work we enjoy."

Anderson Lloyd was established in Dunedin in 1862 and also has offices in Christchurch and Queenstown.

Bargery said the firm's size and leverage means Auckland clients will have access to more senior people and more experience:

"Our combined specialisations - particularly in banking and finance, PPPs, M&A, corporate, agribusiness, and environmental, planning and natural resources - means Anderson Lloyd is now a credible alternative in Auckland to the 'big three' firms.

He confirmed that several members of their Russell McVeagh team will be joining the three lead partners on Monday.