International law firm Clifford Chance has advised CDC Group plc, the UK's Development Finance Institution, on a major investment in East Africa which was closed and announced this week.

The investment, closed on 3 October, saw CDC make a primary equity subscription of US$ 140 million in ARM Cement Limited, a listed Kenyan company which produces cement, lime and fertilizer in Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda. This is the largest announced equity investment transaction in East Africa this year. Anjarwalla & Khanna provided Kenyan law advice to CDC.

Baker & McKenzie advised ALBA Group, a leading recycling specialists and raw material supplier, on the entry of a Chinese investor in two segments of the ALBA Group. The ALBA Group and a fund under the leadership of the Deng family, also controlling shareholder of Techcent, signed purchase and participation agreements on 1st October in Frankfurt.

Charles Russell Speechlys has acted as the legal adviser to FPE Capital on its investment into Questionmark Computing Limited, a leading provider of technologies and services which enables organisations to measure knowledge, skills and attitudes securely through reliable, valid and defensible assessments. FPE Capital will be working with the management team, who will be the remaining investors in the business, to accelerate the growth and product innovation of the business.

Setterwalls has advised PEQ Invest in connection with its investment in TM Progress, a leading supplier within floor screed for professionals, with over 40 years of experience. PEQ Invest is a Swedish Private Equity Company which through its funds invests in small and middle size companies.

Setterwalls’ team consisted of Anders Söderlind and Samuel Skybrand

On 29 September 2016, the former French Minister for Digital Economy and Minister of Culture, Fleur Pellerin, announced having raised 100 million euros for her investment fund K-Fund 1, which will be operational in November. The funds were raised with South Korean IT company Naver and its subsidiary, the highly popular instant messaging service Line. Founded in 1999, Naver is the leading web search portal in Korea. The company employs 6,000 people and its market capitalisation reaches USD 27 billion.

Innovative investment model again proves to be the optimal deal structure for total return insurance ventures.

Leading international law firm Clifford Chance has advised on the formation and capital raising of Harrington Reinsurance Holdings Limited (“Harrington”) and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Harrington Re Ltd., the latest specialty insurance and reinsurance company to employ a novel hybrid investment model.

Noerr has advised Linio Holding comprehensively on a Series D financing round for €50 million. The financing round was led by Mexican investors LIV Capital and Northgate together with Swedish investor Kinnevik.

Our Houston office represented Vega Energy Partners, Ltd. in its divestiture of its 15 percent interest in Stonewall Gas Gathering, a West Virginia pipeline company, to DTE Energy.

The deal was a part of a larger transaction totaling US$1.3 billion between DTE Energy, M3 Midstream and Vega, in which DTE also purchased a 40 percent interest of SGG and 100 percent interest of Appalachia Gathering System from M3 Midstream.

ABB has agreed to divest its global high-voltage cable business to NKT Cables at an enterprise value of approximately EUR 836 million.

The business produces and supplies turnkey solutions with respect to high-voltage submarine and underground cables and includes a state-of-the art manufacturing and R&D facility in Karlskrona, Sweden.

The transaction is subject to certain customary conditions.

Slaughter and May advised GE Capital International Holdings Limited (GECIHL) on its sale of approximately 24.5% of the share capital of MONETA Money Bank, a.s. (Moneta), which raised gross proceeds of approximately CZK 9.4 billion (the Sale). The Sale, which was announced on 29 September 2016, was conducted by an accelerated book-building process. Following the Sale, GECIHL held approximately 18.0% of the share capital of Moneta.
Contacts

Corporate: Andy Ryde (partner), Nick Johnston (associate)