HNA Group Co., Ltd., Haikou, People's Republic of China, and gategroup Holding AG, Zurich, Switzerland, have entered into a transaction agreement pursuant to which HNA Group will launch an all cash public tender offer for all publicly held registered shares of gategroup to acquire gategroup for approximately CHF 1.4 billion. The offer is subject to customary conditions.

The Board of Directors of gategroup has unanimously resolved to support the public tender offer by HNA Group and to recommend the acceptance of HNA Group's public tender offer to gategroup's shareholders.

Hill Dickinson has acted for fire protection and security system provider Swift Fire & Security as it is acquired by Marlowe plc in a £13m deal.

Hill Dickinson’s corporate team, led by partner and Manchester head of corporate Ian Gillis with assistance from James Down and Sarah Mazari (corporate) and Sinead Mohan (employment), advised Swift co-founder and managing director Nigel Jackson on the deal.

On 11 April 2016, the independent European Private Equity firm Argos Soditic announced the acquisition of Geneva-based software vendor RSD from its current shareholders Invision and Renaissance PME. RSD is the 13th company in the portfolio of Euroknights VI fund (€400m), which was raised by Argos Soditic in 2011.

DLA Piper has advised Cathay Capital Private Equity (Cathay Capital) on its first  acquisition in Germany, of WST Präzisionstechnik GmbH (WST) from a Finatem fund and the management of WST Germany.

Key members of WST's management will retain a minority stake in the company. Completion of the transaction is subject to regulatory approval.

Charles Russell Speechlys has acted for Gasmet Technologies Oy (Helsinki, Finland), one of the world’s leading manufacturers of gas monitoring equipment, on its recent acquisition of UK based Quantitech Limited.

Quantitech has been Gasmet Technologies’ sales and service partner in the UK and Ireland since 1995 and the acquisition is designed to secure the long-term future of the business and to exploit the growth opportunities in the UK market.

King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) has advised the US-based company Teknor Apex on the acquisition of the German Plastic-Technologie-Service group (PTS).

Teknor Apex founded in 1924 is a privately held company headquartered in Rhode Island, USA. The international custom compounder of advanced polymer materials manufactures predominately in the U.S. as well as Singapore, China and Belgium. 

PTS is a German-based custom compounder of thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs) and engineering thermoplastics (ETPs) with diverse product portfolios.

Hong Kong/London - Paul Hastings is advising COSCO (Hong Kong) Group Limited (“COSCO HK”) on its acquisition of 67% of Piraeus Port Authority SA. COSCO HK is a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company.

This marks one of the most high profile Greek privatizations of recent years and successful execution of the deal is a key part of the plan to turn Piraeus into a logistics hub for Chinese exports to Europe.

Osborne Clarke has advised Panmure Gordon and Arden Partners in their capacity as joint bookrunners in connection with Eclectic Bar Group plc's £18 million conditional acquisition of the company behind Brighton Pier. The acquisition, which will result in a reverse takeover of Eclectic, is being financed through a £8.5 million placing and new bank debt from Barclays.

The Osborne Clarke team was led by ECM Partner Jonathan King, assisted by Senior Associate Jake Turcan.

Shoosmiths has advised process equipment specialists, ESI Process UK Limited ('ESI'), on its acquisition of Fluid Controls Limited ('Fluid Controls').

This is ESI's latest acquisition since the company was bought by Swedish international industrial group, Indutrade AB, in 2013.

Norton Rose Fulbright has advised private equity financier VR Equitypartner GmbH on the acquisition of a minority interest in the IT service provider n3k Informatik GmbH (n3k). The acquisition was carried out as leveraged buyout including a partial re-investment by the founders. N3k management continues to hold a majority stake.