Hogan Lovells advised pSivida Corp. on its acquisition of Icon Bioscience, Inc. as part of its rebranding initiative into EyePoint Pharmaceuticals, Inc. pSivida, which officially became EyePoint on 29 March 2018, is a specialty biopharmaceutical company that develops and commercializes ophthalmic products. Icon is also a specialty biopharmaceutical company whose flagship drug, DEXYCU™, is administered at the end of ocular surgery to treat postoperative inflammation.

Loyens & Loeff advised Norsk Hydro ASA, a Norwegian aluminium company, on the acquisition of a 53% stake in Aluminium & Chemie Rotterdam B.V. from Rio Tinto (as part of a larger transaction also including the acquisition of Icelandic aluminium plant Rio Tinto Iceland Ltd and 50% in Swedish aluminium fluoride plant Alufluor AB).

Matheson advised UK headquartered private equity fund STAR Capital Partners on its acquisition of Irish logistics business, GSLS, from its majority owner Carlyle Cardinal Ireland. GSLS provides business critical secure logistics services to Ireland’s largest banks, other financial institutions, and customers in the retail and hospitality sector across Ireland, with offices in Dublin and Limerick and employs more than 200 people.

Brian McCloskey, Corporate M&A Partner at Matheson said:

Baker McKenzie has advised Claranova on the signing of an agreement  to takeover a group of three companies with the aim of strengthening its Internet activity, which is currently run by its Avanquest division.

Based in Canada, this group of companies from the IT sector is present in most countries and focuses on the following three areas of activity:

E-commerce processing through Upclick, one of the world’s most modern platforms;

The Manchester office of Addleshaw Goddard, has advised Equistone Partners Europe, an independent investment firm, on its management buyout of WHP Telecoms from Palatine Private Equity.

The MBO will see Equistone take a majority stake in WHP Telecoms, the leading supplier of end-to-end professional and support services for all major UK mobile operators and infrastructure providers.

The Warrington-headquartered company, which has sites in Leeds, Glasgow, Birmingham and Heathrow, currently employs over 440 people.

International law firm Simmons & Simmons has advised the US based, Moog Inc. on the acquisition of the Czech/German company Vues Brno. The transaction was completed at the end of March 2018 for a purchase price of $53m.
The team, led by partner, Stephan Ulrich, who is based in the firm’s Dusseldorf office, consisted of M&A lawyers from both Germany and the UK.

Moog Inc. is a worldwide designer, manufacturer and integrator of precision control components and systems. Vues designs and manufactures customized electric motors, generators and solutions.

International legal practice Osborne Clarke has advised international venture capital fund, GP Bullhound Fund IV, on its SEK 25 million equity investment in Swedish company, Quixel AB.

Quixel AB develops tools for 3D artists, primarily in the video gaming and film industries. The company’s main product is Megascans, the world’s largest and fastest growing library of scanned 3D objects and materials. Co-investors in the financing round include Back in Black.

Ashurst has advised EnergyAustralia Investments Pty Ltd (EnergyAustralia), member of the EnergyAustralia group, on its A$205million purchase of all the issued shares in Ecogen Energy Pty Ltd (Ecogen).

Ecogen owns two gas power stations in Victoria, the Newport Power Station in Melbourne and the Jeeralang Power Station in the Latrobe Valley, which have a combined capacity of 950MW. This represents approximately 9% of Victoria's total generation capacity.

Bird & Bird LLP has advised US life sciences company Unchained Labs on the acquisition of German rap.ID Particle Systems GmbH.

DLA Piper represented Lux Capital in its investment in Mythic's recent US$40 million Series B financing. Mythic is developing a technology platform that delivers the power of desktop GPU in a button-sized chip that supports multi-million weight neural networks facilitating local AI on any device.

The Series B was led by SoftBank Ventures, which also included participation from other existing investors including Lux Ventures, Data Collective, DFJ, AME Cloud Ventures, and new investors Andy Bechtolsheim and Lockheed Martin.