Clifford Chance advised Shell, Diamond Generating Europe (a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Corporation) and Eneco as sellers on the sale of a 45% stake in the 731.5 MW Dutch offshore wind farm project Borssele III/IV to funds managed and/or advised by Partners Group, a global private markets investment manager, constituting half of each seller's current stake in the project. Upon completion of the transaction, Partners Group will become the largest shareholder in the current consortium of investors consisting of Shell, Diamond Generating Europe, Eneco Group and Van Oord.

Global law firm Dentons advised Mediterrania Capital Partners on the acquisition, through its third fund (MC III) alongside DEG, Proparco and South Suez, of a stake in Travaux Généraux de Construction de Casablanca (TGCC) for an amount of €55 million. The investment is aimed at supporting the company’s expansion plans based on the growth trends in the construction sector in Morocco and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Orrick advised Vitruvian Partners LLP on their investment in German credit comparison portal Smava GmbH. Smava will receive $65 million in this Series D financing round from investors led by Vitruvian as well as existing investors. Including this latest round, the Berlin-based company has received $135 million in investments since its founding in 2007.

International law firm CMS has advised technology client, what3words, on the successful investment of a significant stake in the company by German carmaker, Daimler.

what3words is an innovator in addressing technology, providing a system which assigns a three-word address to every 3mx3m square on the planet. Daimler have previously worked closely with what3words in integrating the technology with Mercedes’ satellite navigation systems, allowing drivers to navigate to any destination using a unique, three-word combination.

Eversheds Sutherland financial service team in Italy advised Sorgente SGR, one of the main Italian real estate asset managers, in structuring and setting up its second fund focusing on NPL investments.
 
The new fund (named Fondo Perugino) enriches the offering of Sorgente, one of the few asset managers in Italy which have launched this type of alternative investment funds, in the credit sector.
 
The Eversheds Sutherland team was led by Alessandro Engst and comprised Valerio Lemma, Lorenzo Toppini and Carlotta Riggi.

Goltsblat BLP has advised AFG National on sale of a 35% stake in its subsidiary OOO Yuzhniye Zemli to Volga Group Agro (a company consolidating Volga Group's agricultural projects). The deal was signed on 26 December 2017.

Yuzhniye Zemli produces top quality apples using the latest technology and manages 400 ha of orchards. In 2018, it intends to launch an additional 300 ha, building the second stage of its fruit storage facility and increasing apple production to ten thousand tonnes.

An international CMS team of German, Dutch and Luxembourg lawyers led by Partner Dr. Holger Kraft (CMS Germany, Energy) and Cecilia van der Weijden (CMS The Netherlands, Energy) has provided Partners Group, the global private markets investment manager, with comprehensive legal advice with regards to the acquisition (on behalf of its clients) of a substantial interest in the Dutch company owning the project rights for the offshore windfarm 'Borssele III/IV'.

Global law firm White & Case LLP has advised Société Générale and Gilbert Dupont, as bookrunners, on the sale by Compagnie Financière pour l'Environnement et le Recyclage (CFER), the holding company of the Derichebourg family, of ten percent of  Derichebourg SA's share capital.

Baker Botts L.L.P., a leading international law firm, announced today that it represented Upside Energy (“Upside”) in Series A investment by SYSTEMIQ, Legal & General and Modern Energy.

Upside is a Manchester-based company that has developed a cloud platform that uses advanced algorithms and artificial intelligence to coordinate connected devices to deliver valuable flexibility services to the energy system.

Taylor Wessing has represented one of the investors in a USD 270 million Series A round of financing of BioNTech AG, a fully-integrated biotechnology company pioneering individualized cancer immunotherapy.

Legal advisors

Taylor Wessing: Dr. Norman Röchert and Marc-Oliver Kurth (Lead Partner, Partners, Berlin), Maria Weiers (Partner, Düsseldorf), Dr. Sebastian Beyer (Salary Partner, Frankfurt), Dr. Sebastian Klabunde (Senior Associate), Christian Ahrendt (Associate, both Berlin) (all Corporate, M&A an Capital Markets)