Hogan Lovells has advised long-standing client Hawksford International on the acquisition of Key Trust, a trust and corporate services provider. The deal completed on 8 February 2013 for an undisclosed sum.

Hawksford is a leading independent wealth structuring company specialising in preserving and enhancing wealth. It was established in October 2008 following a management buyout of Rathbone Trust Company Jersey Limited, backed by UK private equity company Dunedin, on which Hogan Lovells also advised.

DLA Piper has been advising the Gruner + Jahr publishing group on the acquisition of the Indian start-up Seventynine. Seventynine specializes in digital advertising for mobile devices. Its business is being purchased by the leading Indian digital marketing company NetworkPlay, in which Gruner + Jahr acquired a majority holding at the beginning of the year – also with the assistance of DLA Piper. Acquisition of the Seventynine business enables Gruner + Jahr to further reinforce its presence on the Indian advertising market.

The Economist Newspaper Limited has turned to Macfarlanes for advice on its acquisition of healthcare intelligence business Bazian Limited.

The team was led by corporate partner James Dawson, with support from lawyers in tax, employment, and IP.  James Dawson comments: "We are very pleased to have completed our first deal for The Economist in helping them to expand in the healthcare intelligence sector."

International law firm Pinsent Masons has advised Coaxis, Inc., which trades as Viewpoint Construction Software, on the purchase of 4Projects from August Equity and management shareholders for an undisclosed amount.

Leading international law firm SJ Berwin has advised private equity firm Lion Capital on the acquisition of British based hair styling brand ghd.

ghd, which stands for good hair day, sells professional hair styling irons with celebrity customers including Katy Perry, Madonna and Jennifer Aniston. Based in the UK, the company also has international operations throughout Europe, Australia, South Africa and the USA.

DLA Piper Weiss-Tessbach has been advising the Austrian linear technology specialist KML on the acquisition of the engineering firm Rathgeber.

A licensing and service agreement has been signed in connection with the acquisition. In addition a general assembly was held in which the company name was changed to 'KML Precision Machining GmbH' and the founder and managing director of KML was appointed as managing director of the new subsidiary.

Global law firm Eversheds has advised Electra Partners on its binding offer to purchase a portfolio of UBM's Data Services businesses ("Delta") for £160 million. The offer is subject to consultation with the relevant works council in France and certain regulatory and other approvals.

IDH Positioned For Future Growth

The Leeds office of Irwin Mitchell has advised Ingenuity Digital Holdings (IDH) on its acquisition of Wetherby-based web design and development agency NetConstruct.

Based in London, Harrogate and Leeds, IDH is a search engine optimisation and digital marketing specialist. NetConstruct provides enterprise level websites and e-commerce stores for business-to-business and business-to-consumer application to mobile, video, online training and systems integration.

Hong Kong: Leading international law firm Clifford Chance has advised Asia Outsourcing Gamma Limited, a company controlled by CVC Capital Partners, on its purchase of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company's (PLDT) Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) business. The purchase price was in excess of US$300 million and is expected to close in March 2013, subject to government approvals.

PLDT will reinvest 20% of the proceeds from the sale into Asia Outsourcing Gamma Limited and continue to participate in the growth of the business as a partner with CV

DLA Piper Ukraine advised Europe Virgin Fund (EVF), a private equity fund, sponsored by Dragon Capital in set up of a joint venture with Ucrafarma S.A. The parties invested into Lux PHARMA Participations SA, a Luxembourg-based holding company, with Ucrafarma S.A. transferring various pharmaceutical assets including its 95% stake in Sperco Ukraine LLC, one of the top 10 pharmaceutical manufacturers of Ukraine, and EVF providing capital for further development