London, 12 May 2017 – Hogan Lovells has advised Claranet, a European leader in the growing managed IT services market, on the £80 million equity investment by Tikehau Capital (Tikehau). Tikehau is a Euronext Paris listed asset management and investment group, with €10bn of assets under management.
Macfarlanes has advised Improbable, a UK-based virtual simulation start-up, on the raising of $502m in its latest financing round led by Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp., with other previous investors also participating. This is the largest ever Series B investment in Europe and the biggest venture financing round by a private British company in history.
Gowling WLG's corporate team has acted for established client, Gigaclear plc, on aggregate of £111 million of equity investments to expand its provision of ultrafast fibre-to-the-premises networks to rural communities. Gigaclear plc is focused on bringing ultrafast pure fibre broadband direct to rural communities in the UK. Since the beginning of 2017, Gigaclear plc has further strengthened its pipeline of 'Broadband Delivery UK' ("BDUK") projects.
The equity investments (all at a subscription price of £3.25 per share) comprise of:-
Wong & Partners, the member firm of Baker McKenzie International in Malaysia, advised Media Prima Berhad ("MPB") in connection with its proposed acquisition, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Media Prima Digital Sdn Bhd ("MPD"), of the entire share capital of Rev Asia Holdings Sdn Bhd ("Rev Asia") from Rev Asia Berhad and Youth Asia Sdn Bhd for a total purchase consideration of MYR 105 million.
Gleiss Lutz has advised United Internet AG on the financing of its voluntary public takeover offer for Drillisch AG. The offer is financed by a syndicated loan of EUR 2.5 billion provided by a syndicate of international banks. Further, Gleiss Lutz simultaneously advised on the consolidation of the existing syndicated loans.
Today United Internet AG (“United Internet”) and Drillisch AG (“Drillisch”) have entered into a Business Combination Agreement governing the step-by-step acquisition of 1&1 Telecommunication SE (“1&1 Telecommunication”) by Drillisch under the umbrella of United Internet with the aim to merge United Internet’s mobile and fixed-network business, which is bundled in 1&1 Telecommunication SE, with Drillisch’s mobile communications business.
London – A cross-border, multi-practice team of lawyers from global law firm K&L Gates has advised CLX Communications (CLX), a leading provider of cloud-based communication solutions, on its acquisition of UK mobile messaging and security services provider Dialogue Group Ltd. for £32 million on a cash and debt-free basis.
The acquisition will help fast track CLX’s expansion into the Asia-Pacific region, bolster network expansion, and increase key security product capabilities.
DLA Piper has advised Brighter AB (publ) (Brighter) in connection with Brighter's securement of external financing through issuance of convertible notes with warrants attached in up to eight tranches of a total amount of SEK 100 million spread over 36 months.
Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP has advised Affinitas GmbH on its merger with Spark Networks, Inc.
Affinitas, which operates premium dating platforms such as EliteSingles and eDarling, and Spark Networks, a leading brand for specialized online communities such as JDate and ChristianMingle, have entered into a definitive agreement to combine in a stock-for-stock merger, creating one of the world's largest online dating providers. Together, the two companies today have more than half a million subscribers.
Setterwalls has assisted Tata Technologies, the global engineering services company and a member of the Indian Tata Group in the acquisition of Swedish Escenda Engineering AB, a leader in automotive product engineering and design with more than 150 engineers. Tata Technologies has taken the step to expand its presence in Sweden due to the strong growth opportunity in the region in both the automotive and industrial machinery sectors.