Darrois Villey Maillot Brochier advised AccorHotels on the finalisation of the acquisition of John Paul, the leading player in premium customer and employee loyalty services. The acquisition was made on the basis of an Enterprise Value of 150 million dollars. AccorHotels acquired approximately 80% of John Paul, the remaining c. 20% stake being retained by David Amsellem, the founder of the company, who will remain as CEO.

Macfarlanes has advised Exponent Private Equity (“Exponent”) on its acquisition of a majority stake in ENRA Group (“ENRA”), the specialist provider of mortgage finance, from management and Livingbridge.

Herbert Smith Freehills has advised the master franchisee for Pizza Hut in Australia on its acquisition of the Eagle Boys business from its administrators.

The acquisition will see more than 50 Eagle Boys stores being rebranded to Pizza Hut, increasing Pizza Hut’s overall store count in Australia to more than 320.

Osborne Clarke has advised John Laing plc on the acquisition of wind park Horath of Schöller Wind GmbH. Its acquisition will increase John Laing’s total capacity of all onshore wind parks in Germany to 120 megawatts (MW).

The wind park has a total installed capacity of approximately 29,7 MW consisting of 9 wind turbines with an output of up to 3.3 MW.

Ashurst is advising Rothschild in relation to the £78.5 million recommended cash offer by Severn Trent Water Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Severn Trent plc, for Dee Valley Group plc, announced today. Dee Valley Water is the licensed water undertaker for Wrexham, Chester and the surrounding areas and has been supplying water to its community for more than 150 years. It supplies drinking water to approximately 125,000 domestic and business customers in northeast Wales and in northwest Cheshire.

Vinge has advised Daikin and AAF Lufttechnik GmbH in connection with the acquisition of Dinair Group AB. Dinair is one of the Nordic regions largest manufacturer and supplier of air filters. The company employs over 350 employees and operates its own manufacturing and product development. The HQ is located in Vadstena., Sweden.

The Vinge team included partner Christina Kokko, counsel Ulrich Ziche, associates Gustav Tengblad, Sofia Bergenstråhle, Emil Fahlén Godö, Anna-Maria Terzi and Isabelle Jengsell.

The Sydney Bird & Bird team recently advised the City & Guilds Group on the acquisition of Adelaide-based e3Learning – one of Australia's largest dedicated corporate e-learning and compliance providers. e3Learning consists of Interact Learning Pty Limited, an Australian entity, and its two wholly-owned subsidiaries, e3Learning Solutions Ltd based in Australia, and e3Learning UK Limited based in the UK.

Slaughter and May is advising FWD Group, the insurance arm of Pacific Century Group, in relation to its acquisition of AIG Fuji Life Insurance Company, Limited, the company through which AIG runs its life insurance business in Japan.  The transaction is subject to regulatory approval.

The transaction was announced on 15 November 2016.
Contacts

Slaughter and May team: Corporate: David Watkins (partner), Zhuo Chen Chong (associate); Tax: Gareth Miles (partner), Charles Osborne (associate)

Freshfields has advised Bridgepoint on the acquisition of Sapec Agro Business

Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP (‘Freshfields’) has advised Bridgepoint on the acquisition of Sapec Agro Business, the agribusiness subsidiary of the listed conglomerate Sapec S. A. BE, in a transaction valuing the business at €456 million.

Paul Hastings, a leading global law firm, announced today that the firm represented Samsung Electronics (“Samsung”) in its US$8 billion acquisition of Harman International Industries, Inc. (“HARMAN”). HARMAN is the market leader in connected car solutions, with more than 30 million vehicles currently equipped with its connected car and audio systems, including embedded infotainment, telematics, connected safety, and security.