National law firm Shoosmiths has advised Natwest on a £3.125m funding package to a leading property and land management company, Greenbelt Holdings Ltd (Greenbelt), to support their growth strategy.

The funding will allow Greenbelt to focus on expanding the business across the UK and replaces investment provided by Maven Capital Partners via their Capital for Enterprise fund. Greenbelt currently services some 50,000 homes on around 500 developments throughout the UK and is looking to increase this number.

International technology, media and telecoms law firm Olswang has advised ESF Capital, the institutional marketplace lending accelerator, on its multi-tranche equity investment into Satago, the accounts receivable software business.

Simultaneously, Olswang also advised ESF Capital on its provision of a new debt facility to Satago.  The new funding will support the development and growth of Satago's all-in-one cash-flow solution, which combines dynamic single invoice financing with a free, online, universally accessible credit control platform for SMEs.

Shearman & Sterling advised EFG Hermes on the sale of its 40% stake in Credit Libanais for US$310 million. The stake was sold to Arab and Lebanese investors at US$33.00 per share.

The Shearman & Sterling team included partners Marwan Elaraby (Abu Dhabi-Capital Markets), David Dixter (London-Capital Markets) and Simon Burrows (London-Mergers & Acquisitions); counsel Pawel Szaja (London-Capital Markets); and associate Paul Pasalic (London-Mergers & Acquisitions).

Gide advises on the setting up of Prêtons Ensemble, first major crowdlending fund in France, by Aviva France and Eiffel Investment Group.

Insurer Aviva France and asset management company Eiffel Investment Group have just announced the launch of Prêtons Ensemble, a fund that aims to finance the real economy. This new fund, financed by Aviva France to an amount of 50 million euros, aims to lend funds via the best online lending platforms in Europe, and France in particular.

King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) has advised the listed company FinLab AG (FinLab) on a seven-figure growth financing package provided to the Darmstadt-based technology company AUTHADA GmbH (AUTHADA).

Global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright has advised Hermes GPE LLP (Hermes) in connection with the acquisition of a 17.1% ownership stake in Southern Water by its clients.

The deal will see Hermes’ overall management ownership interest in Southern Water rise to 21%.

Charles Russell Speechlys has acted as the legal adviser to FPE Capital LLP (FPE) on its investment into Optimity Limited (Optimity), the internet service provider which is pioneering fixed-wireless access as an alternative to fibre.  FPE has invested alongside the existing management team and will inject a significant amount of fresh capital into the business.

Global law firm Norton Rose Fulbright has acted for agricultural investment specialist Laguna Bay on the successful first close of its Laguna Bay Agricultural Fund 1. The fund is supported by a number of experienced long term institutional investors, as well as Laguna Bay management, together contributing approximately $280 million.

Laguna Bay aims to unlock unrealised farmland value. Its new fund has a wide mandate in the agricultural sector and aims to invest in a portfolio of low-risk, high-quality agricultural assets in Australia and New Zealand.

DLA Piper represented HCL Technologies, a leading global IT services company, in an investment in its strategic partner Moogsoft, a provider of real-time IT Operations Analytics software.

HCL Technologies' investment reflects the company's strategy to partner with next generation start-ups like Moogsoft, as the two companies work together on IT operations analytics and event automation. HCL's investment is part of US$30 million investment to fund global expansion that Moogsoft secured over two phases of an oversubscribed round of Series C financing.

Travers Smith LLP has advised longstanding client Kester Capital on its investment in Factory-CRO.

The Travers Smith team was led by private equity partner Paul Dolman and also included senior private equity associate Alex Dixon.