The corporate team from independent UK law firm Burges Salmon has advised Gooch & Housego PLC (G&H) on two strategic acquisitions during the summer.

In the UK, the team advised on the acquisition of Integrated Technologies Limited (ITL) for a total consideration of up to £22 million, which will enable G&H to take a significant step towards meeting its strategic objectives, including doubling the revenue of its life science business and accelerating its move up the value chain, with all of ITL's sales coming from system based products.

Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) has advised Menden Ventures Consulting (“mvc”), a German EdTech investor based in Berlin, on its acquisition of Eurocentres Language Teaching from the current Swiss owner, The Foundation for Language and Educational Centres.

The transaction comprises all Eurocentres’ English activities, including schools in the UK, a franchise network, and teaching provisions across the world, including activities in the US, Canada, Australia, Malta, Saudi Arabia and soon to be operational activities in India.

Cologne – The Cologne-based CAM Group has acquired all the shares in DB Private Equity GmbH from Deutsche Bank. The purchase price was not disclosed. The DB Private Equity division handles investments in private equity funds-of-funds and managed accounts. The Europe-wide client base chiefly comprises institutional investors (insurance companies, pension funds, financial institutions). Together with CAM Private Markets, DB Private Equity GmbH has total assets under management of more than EUR 3 billion.

Düsseldorf – Financial infrastructure operator SIX has increased its stake in German payment transactions bank SECB Swiss Euro Clearing Bank from its previous holding of 25% to 100%. As a result, it now fully owns the bank. The shares were acquired from Credit Suisse, UBS and PostFinance, which had previously each also held 25%. The parties agreed not to disclose details of the transaction value. The transaction is currently awaiting approval from the authorities and should close by the fourth quarter of the current year.

Stuttgart – Schuler AG has acquired Italian forging line manufacturer Farina Presse. Acquiring the specialist toolmaker allows the Schuler Group to round off its product portfolio in the field of forging and single-stroke presses. Farina will gain access to Schuler’s global distribution network for its own products, hitherto sold in the European market, and will continue to operate under its own brand name.

To date, the Farina Group has mostly supplied customers in Italy and Spain, with a focus on the automotive industry.

We advised BTG plc, the global specialist healthcare company, on its acquisition of Novate Medical Ltd. Novate is a medical device company concentrating on the prevention of pulmonary embolism (PE) in patients at high risk of venous thromboembolic events.

DLA Piper has advised Accel-KKR, a leading Silicon Valley technology focused investment firm, on its acquisition of Seequent Limited. The deal, which completed on 30 August 2018, was the first investment by Accel-KKR in New Zealand.