Ashurst advised BlueFocus Communications Group Co., Ltd ("BlueFocus") on its acquisition of a majority stake in We Are Very Social Limited ("We Are Social"). We Are Social is the world's largest specialist social media agency network with offices in London, New York, Paris, Milan, Munich, Singapore, Sydney and São Paulo. BlueFocus is China's largest marketing services group and is listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. We Are Social will become BlueFocus' primary digital agency brand outside of China and will provide BlueFocus with a platform for significant growth in digital revenues.

DLA Piper has advised Sopra Group S.A. on the acquisition of the banking-sector specialist COR&FJA Banking Solutions GmbH (COR&FJA) by Sopra Banking Software, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Sopra Group.

Allen & Overy LLP is advising its longstanding client 21st Century Fox, Inc. (formerly News Corporation) in connection with the financial support of the acquisition of different corporate investments by Sky Germany.

Olswang has advised leading European film producer and distributor Studiocanal on the acquisition of its majority stake in one of the UK's most successful independent producers, Red Production Company. The acquisition is part of Studiocanal's strategy to move into the UK TV industry.

Red has produced some of the UK's most popular and critically acclaimed drama series: from the ground-breaking Queer as Folk for Channel 4, to the ratings-winning Scott & Bailey for ITV and most recently, the double BAFTA-winning Last Tango in Halifax.

DLA Piper represented EdgeCast Networks, a Los Angeles-based content delivery network, in its acquisition by Verizon Digital Media Services. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2014, subject to customary closing conditions.

Founded in 2006, EdgeCast has more than 6,000 accounts and serves some of the world's leading web brands for global media delivery and acceleration services.

DWF has advised the management team of 20:20 Mobile, the mobile phone distributor with an annual turnover of almost £1bn, on its sale to US business Brightstar Corp, one of the world's largest wireless distribution companies.

Olswang has advised domestic Chinese B2B e-commerce operator JQW plc on its admission to trading on the London Stock Exchange's Alternative Investment Market (AIM). The placing has raised £6.7m and market capitalisation on admission was £135m.  Dealings commenced on 9 December 2013 at 8:00am.

Omnes Capital backed Exclusive Networks Group, has announced the acquisition of Secureway, a leading specialist value added distributor in the IT security and mobility industry in the Middle East. Secureway is headquartered in Dubai with an additional office in Saudi Arabia and employs 60 people in the region. 

Hogan Lovells has successfully represented Facebook in its efforts to suspend the ‘.facebok.pw’ domain name, using a new legal rights protection mechanism called Uniform Rapid Suspension (URS).

Facebook is the first brand owner to file a dispute under the URS, a new dispute resolution mechanism designed to quickly suspend domain names that are infringing on a brand’s trademarks. The URS was first introduced by the Implementation Recommendation Team (IRT)  which was formed by ICANN to develop and propose solutions to the overarching issue of trademark protection in new gTLDs.

International law firm Pinsent Masons has advised on the $52.6 million sale of conference call and collaboration provider Via-Vox to PGi.  Corporate partner Andrew Hornigold and corporate associate Ian Montgomery led a team advising the conference call company trading under the name Powwownow. The acquisition will see PGi expand its customer base into the SME sector in the UK and across Europe.

Commenting on the deal, Hornigold said: "This deal not only demonstrates Pinsent Masons' corporate expertise but highlights our knowledge and understanding of the technology sector."