Commercial Lawyer | Franchising, Business Acquisitions and Disputes
Tsungai Mukushi is the Principal of Minerva Law. He was admitted to practice in 2008 and established the firm in 2013. He acts for business owners on the transactions that decide the shape of a business, including acquisitions and sales, structuring and shareholder arrangements, and on the disputes that follow when those arrangements fail.
Franchising across industries
Franchising is a business model, not an industry. That is why almost two decades of establishing and advising franchise systems has taken Tsungai across most of the economy.
That work spans disability and aged care, childcare and education, food and hospitality, retail, fitness, beauty and personal care, trades and home services, cleaning and facilities management, automotive, transport and courier networks, children’s play and sports venues, financial services and broking, real estate, business services and labour hire.
Building a network in a regulated sector means learning that sector’s regulator properly, because the franchise documents have to sit inside the regulatory framework rather than alongside it.
Mergers and acquisitions
Franchise networks grow and consolidate by transaction: franchisees buying in and selling out, franchisors acquiring company-owned sites back, and whole systems changing hands. Tsungai acts on those transactions, most often as share sales, where the entity and its registrations, contracts and licences all need to survive the change of ownership. In NDIS acquisitions that structural question is decisive. An NDIS registration is tied to a single ABN and does not transfer with the business, which is usually what pushes the deal toward a share sale rather than an asset sale.
Since 2013 the firm has acted on 399 business sale and acquisition transactions, 174 trust deed and structuring matters and 120 shareholders agreements.
Disputes and advocacy
Tsungai has represented clients in the Federal Court, Supreme Court, Federal Circuit Court, County Court and Magistrates Court across a range of commercial matters. He is also a nationally accredited mediator under AMDRAS, appointed by both sides of commercial and franchise disputes.
Background
Beyond his legal practice, Tsungai has hands-on business experience as a former executive director of two Victorian companies. Clients describe him as approachable and pragmatic. He builds strong working relationships and gives advice they can act on.
Tsungai holds a Juris Doctor from Bond University and a Bachelor of Commerce (Financial Planning and Commercial Law) from Deakin University, and is a Legal Practitioner and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Victoria.