Osborne Clarke has advised test IO on the closing of its Series A financing round. The Berlin-based start-up, formerly known as Testcloud GmbH, has raised $5 million Series from Turn/River Capital. The leading self-service crowdtesting platform for app and web developers was founded in 2011.

The new capital will be used to accelerate growth, including its U.S. market launch and company-wide rebrand. Business Angels had already invested in the platform in 2012, which was followed by a further financing round in 2013.

Osborne Clarke has advised Acano (UK) Limited, who has been acquired by Cisco Systems Holdings UK Limited, a UK subsidiary of Cisco Systems, Inc for a value of $700m.

Acano (UK) Limited was founded in 2012 to provide online collaboration platforms via audio, web and video conferencing. Based in London, Acano’s 170+ employees operate across four continents with other bases in Norway, Sweden, Australia and the USA.

The share purchase agreement was signed on (20 November 2015) and is expected to complete in the next few months.

Osborne Clarke has advised DailyDeal GmbH and Fabian und Ferry Heilemann on its sale to MenschDanke GmbH. The company is active in Germany and Austria.

With more than one million visits per month Daily Deal GmbH has been the market leader alongside Groupon over the course of the past fiscal year, and generated an eight digit revenue. The company was founded in 2009 by Fabian and Ferry Heilemann and was sold to Google in 2011, being legally advised by Osborne Clarke. Fabian und Ferry Heilemann bought back the company in 2013 with legal assistance of Osborne Clarke.

We have advised Smart Antenna Technologies (SAT) on its fundraising of up to £1.5 million. SAT, a spin-out from the University of Birmingham, has developed and patented pioneering smart antenna technology. The single antenna system solution is a flexible and compact design that can replace all existing antennas and is highly cost effective. The system has been specifically developed for devices with multiple wireless data connections, including smart phones, tablets and laptops.

Herbert Smith Freehills is delighted to have advised NEXTDC Limited (NEXTDC) on its A$120 million fully underwritten equity raising consisting of a A$50 million placement to institutional investors at A$2.55 per share (Placement) and a 1 for 6.23 accelerated non-renounceable pro-rata entitlement offer (ANREO) at A$2.25 per share, announced to the ASX on 23 November 2015 (Offer).

Matheson advised Abtran, one of Ireland’s largest providers of customer and business process management services, on the investment in Abtran by Carlyle Cardinal Ireland, the private equity fund.
 
The transaction, which was announced on 23 November 2015, is one of the largest investments by Carlyle Cardinal Ireland in an Irish company to date. Abtran’s existing management team  will continue in their leadership roles and are investing further as shareholders in the business.

On November 6, 2015, the Swiss Competition Commission (ComCo) closed its investigation against Booking.com, Expedia and HRS regarding potentially anti-competitive contract clauses with hotels. The ComCo decided that the Most Favored Nation (MFN) clauses that were recently modified by certain hotel booking platforms, including Booking.com, are not prohibited. Under these revised clauses, hotels are free to offer better prices than those quoted on online booking platforms (for example on other platforms or via direct marketing such as e-mail or telephone).

Cisco has entered into an agreement with the intention of buying Acano.

Cisco is one of the world's leading network suppliers with almost 64,000 employees worldwide. Wiersholm advised Cisco in the acquisition of Acano, a privately-held technology company based in London offering infrastructure for collaboration and software for video conferences.

Agile Content, multinational technology company specializing in managing audiovisual content and big data, has been listed on the MAB with a capital of €17 million, after receiving authorization from the MAB's Coordination and Incorporations Committee.

The company, with headquarters in Barcelona, agreed to expand its capital worth €5.3 million, enabling it to incorporate 80 new investors. Agile Content's debut on the market was finalized when almost nine million shares at €1.87 were issued on the MAB.

Hogan Lovells assisted the shareholders of FLCP, the holding company of the Newen group, in connection with the signature of an agreement under which TF1 will acquire a 70% equity interest in FLCP. The existing shareholders, including the management team, retain a 30% equity interest.

Performance-related options, exercisable by both TF1 and the existing shareholders, are an integral part of this medium/long term partnership deal.