Slaughter and May advised ITV on the sale of ITV Cymru Wales' headquarters at Culverhouse Cross to Bellway Homes for £14.5 million. The 7.7 hectare site was sold with outline planning permission for a residential development of up to 243 new homes. ITV Cymru Wales has moved its operations to modern broadcasting facilities in Cardiff Bay.
CONTACTS
Real Estate: Jane Edwarde (partner), Samantha Brady (associate); Planning: Sarah Tolley (associate).
Hexagon AB has signed a EUR 2.0 billion Multicurrency Revolving Credit Facility agreement with a syndicate of banks. The new credit facility will be used to refinance existing facilities as well as for general corporate purposes.
Hexagon is a leading global provider of integrated design, measurement and visualisation technologies. The company has more than 15,000 employees in more than 40 countries and net sales of approximately EUR 2.5 billion. The Hexagon share is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm.
Slaughter and May is advising Advanstar Communications Inc., a leading U.S. media company providing integrated marketing solutions for the fashion, licensing, life sciences, and power sports industries, on the English law aspects of UBM plc's proposed acquisition of the Advanstar group for a total cash consideration of US$972 million (£599 million). UBM is a global, events-led marketing and communications services business.
UBM will finance the acquisition from the £563 million proceeds of a rights issue and a new US$100 million bridge facility.
Bertelsmann is increasing its ownership of Gruner + Jahr to 100 percent by acquiring Jahr Holding’s 25.1 percent shareholding. The transaction was agreed among Gruner + Jahr’s shareholders. Bertelsmann’s acquisition of the remaining shares in Gruner + Jahr will become effective on November 1, 2014. The purchase price is being paid in cash, and the parties have agreed not to disclose the amount.
Latham advises WhatsApp in EU and US regulatory approvals.
European Union regulators have approved Facebook’s $19 billion acquisition of WhatsApp, a rapidly growing cross-platform mobile messaging company. The unconditional approval by the European Commission clears the way for the closing of the deal, as US regulators approved the acquisition earlier this year.
Latham & Watkins LLP represents WhatsApp in the EU and US antitrust review proceedings with a team led by partners Hanno Kaiser and Joshua Holian in San Francisco and Lars Kjolbye in Brussels.
King & Wood Mallesons has harnessed its global capability, bringing together teams in France and Australia to advise Exclusive Networks on its acquisition of WhiteGold Solutions, providing them with access to the Asia-Pacific market. The deal raised an additional €25 million from ICG Senior Debt Partner to finance Exclusive Networks’ development programme.
DLA Piper has advised Playtech Group on the acquisition of the Italian and Swedish videolottery businesses of the Aristocrat group, one of the main gaming suppliers globally.
Partner Giulio Coraggio led the transaction, with assistance from senior associate Danilo Surdi, together with colleagues from DLA Nordic.
The acquisition will allow Playtech Group to become leader in the supply of Videolottery terminals in Europe and Latin America.
Dusseldorf, Germany - Baker & McKenzie advised Telefónica Deutschland Holding AG on antitrust, regulatory and employment law matters in the context of the restructuring measures in the acquisition of its competitor E-Plus. The merger, which creates the largest German mobile service provider by customer numbers, was closed late yesterday (30 September 2014).
DLA represented Pacific DataVision, Inc., a provider of mobile workforce management solutions, in a 144A offering of shares of its common stock worth US$218 million. The firm also represented Pacific DataVision in its US$100 million acquisition of FCC spectrum licenses from Sprint Corporation, as well as its licensing transaction of US$17.5 million by Motorola Solutions, Inc.
Taylor Wessing has advised Neul, the company that makes the radio modules that allow communication between devices, on its recent acquisition by Huawei, the global ICT solutions provider, the agreement reinforcing Cambridge's status as a leading global technology hub.