Shoosmiths has advised venture capital firm, MMC Ventures, on their £2.5m investment in online floristry business, Bloom & Wild, in a Series A funding round.
MMC - an award-winning venture capital firm that has been backing early-stage, high-growth companies since 2000 - joins existing angel investors including Catamaran Ventures and Samos who also participated in the round.
DWF LLP has advised the selling shareholder and management team on the investment in North West engineering firm Mini-cam Enterprises Limited by equity firm LDC.
Mini-Cam, which makes water pipeline inspection systems and is based at Golbourne near Warrington, will use the funding to boost its new product portfolio and enter new markets in this country and overseas.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. LDC has taken a significant minority stake in the business, which has 37 employees.
The Manchester Corporate team has advised LDC on its £35m investment in Mini-Cam Holdings Limited. Mini-Cam is the leading manufacturer of push camera and crawler systems for pipeline inspection solutions worldwide.
The team was Paul Medlicott, George Danczak, Helena Drury, Jacob Bennett, Richard Oman, Michael McDonald and Justine Delroy.
Mini-cam which makes water pipeline inspection systems, will use the funding to boost its new product portfolio and enter new markets in this country and overseas.
Gleiss Lutz advised HeidelbergCement AG on its acquisition of a stake in Italcementi S.p.A., a company listed on the Milan (Italy) stock exchange. HeidelbergCement will be taking over Italmobiliare S.p.A.’s approx. 45% shareholding in Italcementi. The purchase price amounts to (subject to contractual purchase price reductions) 10.60 euros per share and therefore a total of around 1.67 billion euros.
Shoosmiths has advised Octopus Investments (Octopus) on a 60m (USD) co-investment with Google Ventures, in to luxury online travel brand, Secret Escapes.
It is intended that this substantial investment will support the brand in Secret Escapes' expansion in to the US, Asian travel market and build on recent acquisitions, including Travelist.
Dentons has advised the logistics group China International Marine Containers (Group) Ltd. (CIMC) on the German legal aspects of the sale of a 40% stake in Albert Ziegler GmbH to China Fire Safety Enterprise Group, a Chinese manufacturer of firefighting equipment. The transaction includes a share swap with CIMC acquiring 30% of the shares in China Fire Safety Enterprise Group. The overall transaction is EUR 56 million.
Clifford Chance advised global investment firm KKR on its investment in Deutsche Glasfaser as well as on the refinancing of the group.
KKR will acquire a majority stake and has formed a partnership with the current owner, Dutch investment firm Reggeborgh, for the further expansion of Deutsche Glasfaser. The investment is funded by KKR's Infrastructure Fund II and remains subject to customary closing conditions including antitrust clearance.
Novax, part of the Axel Johnson Group, has acquired 46% of ApoEx AB, a distributor of pharmaceuticals and consumable goods to public as well as private healthcare providers in Sweden. Founded in 2009, ApoEx was 2014 declared a “super gazelle” company by Dagens Industri and today has around 110 employees, more than 4,500 customers and an annual turnover of approximately SEK 1.7 billion.
King & Wood Mallesons has advised the shareholders of El Corte Inglés in the €1 billion sale of a 10% stake to former Qatari Prime Minister Sheik Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani. These stocks form part of the company’s treasury shares and the investment was made through a financial instrument that will be converted into shares within three years.
After this deal – a move that values the group at €10 billion - Sheik Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani will become a board member in the Spanish corporation.
Ashurst has advised PineBridge, a leading global multi-asset class investment manager, on a European CLO (Euro-Galaxy IV), its second CLO 2.0 transaction. The deal is being co-managed with Crédit Industriel et Commercial SA. For the purposes of risk retention, both co-managers will hold retention in equal shares. The deal features a two year non-call period, a four year reinvestment period and a thirteen year final maturity as well as EUR 66 million of delayed draw notes which will consolidate with the Class A-1 Notes. The notes are rated by Moody's and S&P.