Ashurst advised Webhelp Group, one of Europe's leading specialists in customer relationship solutions and services, headquartered in France, on the acquisition of nine call centres from Germany-based Walter Services Group. The parties have agreed not to disclose the purchase price. The transaction is still subject to regulatory approval.

Webhelp, a portfolio company of private equity firm Charterhouse, acquires as part of this transaction Perry & Knorr GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of Walter Services, with call centres in in Berlin, Parchim, Flensburg and Kiel. In addition, the Group acquires five international Walter Services call centres in Switzerland, Poland, Austria and Romania. Customers of the acquired service centres are mainly major brands such as Nestlé, Swisscom, and Telecom Austria. Following the acquisitions, Webhelp has over 58 call centres and 27,000 employees.

The Ashurst team from Frankfurt, Munich and Paris was led by partners Dr Ingo Scholz and Dr Benedikt von Schorlemer (both corporate, Frankfurt). Partners Nicolas Barberis (corporate, Paris), Stéphanie Corbière (finance, Paris), Heiko Penndorf (tax, Frankfurt) and Ute Zinsmeister (antitrust, Munich) also advised, assisted by counsel Martina Rothe (corporate, Frankfurt), senior associate Dr Carolin Fenck, associates Jan van Kisfeld and Marcel Goroll (all corporate, Frankfurt) as well as senior associates Felix Krüger (tax, Frankfurt) and Dr Maria Held (antitrust, Munich).