About Matthew
Matthew Rouse is the founder and Managing Director of Rouse Lawyers and a corporate and M&A lawyer with more than 20 years’ experience advising founders, business owners, private companies, family businesses and investors. Across his career, Matthew has advised on transactions exceeding $5 billion in aggregate value.
Matthew leads Rouse Lawyers’ Mergers & Acquisitions practice. He advises on business sales and acquisitions, strategic investments, shareholder transactions, restructures and succession, with particular depth in transactions in the $5 million to $100 million range and significant experience on larger and more complex corporate transactions, including transactions exceeding $250 million.
A significant part of Matthew’s practice involves advising founders and business owners on the sale of businesses they have built. His involvement often begins before a buyer is at the table, helping owners prepare for sale, consider transaction and ownership structures, respond to approaches from prospective buyers and negotiate heads of agreement. He then advises through due diligence, transaction documentation, negotiation and completion.
Matthew also works with founders and privately owned businesses through different stages of the business lifecycle. His broader corporate and commercial experience includes shareholder arrangements, capital raising, acquisitions, restructures, ownership and business succession. For family businesses and privately held groups, this can extend to intergenerational ownership and the eventual transition or sale of the business.
His transaction experience includes advising UBH Group and its shareholders on its sale to Sovereign Capability Group; Precision Mining on its sale to Micromine; Practice Protect on its sale to US-based Rightworks; The Truss Company and its shareholders on its sale to Finlayson’s; and Candor Medical on its sale to Vitura Health. Matthew has also acted on the $100 million sale of Crowne Plaza Surfers Paradise and advised on larger corporate transactions during his earlier career.
Matthew has particular experience advising technology, software and other growth businesses, where intellectual property, data, recurring revenue arrangements and founder ownership can be central to enterprise value. His broader M&A experience spans defence, healthcare, manufacturing and industrial businesses, professional services, property, food and beverage, mining technology and environmental services.
Matthew works directly with founders, business owners, boards and senior executives and regularly works alongside accountants, corporate advisers and other professional advisers on transactions and broader ownership and succession matters.
Matthew founded Rouse Lawyers in 2006 after practising with Australian corporate law firms including Clayton Utz, Sparke Helmore and Dibbs Barker Gosling. At Clayton Utz, he practised in Corporate and M&A and worked on major Australian corporate transactions including the float of Wotif.com and the Australian and New Zealand Cleanaway and Industrial Services divestment as part of Brambles’ major divestment program.
Matthew holds a Bachelor of Laws with Honours from Bond University and a Diploma of Applied Finance from FINSIA. He was admitted to legal practice in 2003 and is a member of CUB and Vistage.
