On March 9, 2016, the SPAR Group LTD (SPAR South Africa), Pinetown, South Africa (Johannesburg Stock Exchange: SPP), announced that it signed an agreement to acquire 60% of the shares in SPAR Holding AG (SPAR Switzerland), Gossau, Switzerland, for CHF 44.5 million from the existing shareholders of SPAR Switzerland.

SPAR South Africa and the sellers have agreed to an aggregate purchase price of CHF 100.8 million for 100% of the share capital in SPAR Switzerland.

The Competition and Litigation Practice team of Egorov Puginsky Afanasiev & Partners successfully defended the interests of the largest Russian IT company Yandex in the Moscow Arbitrazh Court. The Court rejected Google’s lawsuit in which the corporation requested to cancel the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia’s (FAS) conclusions.

Pinsent Masons has advised Cancom SE, one of the leading providers of IT infrastructure and IT services in Germany, on its €66.2 million capital raising.

On 2/3 March 2016, Cancom SE successfully increased its share capital by 10%. The new shares were placed by way of accelerated book building with institutional investors with gross proceeds of €66.2 million. The new shares were placed by Hauck & Aufhäuser Privatbankiers KGaA, Frankfurt am Main/Germany, with institutional investors.

LONDON, 11 March, 2016 - On the same night that O3b Networks was named “Satellite Operator of the Year” at the Via Satellite Excellence Awards in Washington, DC, the company was also celebrating on this side of the Atlantic after being named “European Telecoms Deal of the Year” at the Infrastructure Journal (IJGlobal) Awards in London.

Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP advised O3b Networks in connection with its US$1.7 billion financing of a constellation of satellites to support fast broadband connections.

The two Swisss web TV plattforms Teleboy and Wilmaa entered into a joint venture arrangement. The joint venture's purpose is to coordinate the marketing activities of Teleboy and Wilmaa through a jointly held service company. Each of the joint venture partners has a 50% stake in the service company.

Teleboy was founded in 2002 (at that time operating under the name "TV-Guide"). In 2010 Teleboy launched the first web based TV in Switzerland. Wilmaa was founded in 2008 and has become the leading web TV provider in Switzerland in the meantime.

We acted as the legal advisor to Nemetschek AG in its acquisition of Solibri Oy from Solibri Oy’s shareholders. The transaction was announced on 18 December 2015.

Solibri, founded in 1999, is a globally leading provider of software solutions for the quality assurance and quality control of Building Information Modeling (BIM), the digital work method in the construction industry. In addition to Finland, the company is active in the US and UK markets.

On 7 March 2016, Österreichische Post announced the sale of its logistics provider trans-o-flex headquartered in Weinheim. Amberger Familien GbR, Tegernsee, and Schoeller Holding, Munich/Zürich, acquire the target company in equal shares. trans-o-flex is a logistics company with revenues of about €500m focusing on providing transport solutions for the pharmaceutical, healthcare and consumer electronics sectors in Germany. trans-o-flex retains 1,900 employees and operates 91 sites in Germany and Austria.

Noerr advised Analytik Jena AG on a squeeze-out procedure. A Noerr team led by the Frankfurt-based partners Dr Stephan Schulz and Dr Laurenz Wieneke assisted the company comprehensively during the transaction, especially in preparing and conducting an extraordinary general meeting. The meeting approved the transfer of shares from the minority shareholders to the main shareholder, a subsidiary of the Swiss measuring instrument manufacturer Endress+Hauser. Endress+Hauser will now acquire all remaining shares in Analytik Jena AG in return for appropriate cash compensation.

freenet, Germany's largest network-independent mobile services provider continues to expand in the digital lifestyle market as a provider of Internet-based applications for private clients. In implementing this strategy, freenet has now acquired a stake in start-up EXARING AG and initially acquired 24.99 percent of its shares.