The French private equity investor Ardian purchased the Swabian sound specialists d&b audiotechnik from German private equity investor Odewald & Compagnie, Belgian co-investor Cobepa and individual executives of d&b audiotechnik. Odewald and Compagnie acquired d&b audiotechnik in 2011 from finance investor AFINUM.

The transaction is still subject to approval by the relevant antitrust authorities.

On December 14, 2015, CNP Assurances had announced that they had signed a definitive agreement to acquire a majority interest in Géosud from Total, Géostock and Inéos, with Total and Inéos transferring their entire stake of respectively 56.07% and 13.93% to CNP Assurances and Géostock retaining a minority shareholding of 2%.

Charles Russell Speechlys has acted as legal adviser to the management team of Emerging Markets Payments (EMP), the leading Africa and Middle East payments business, on the sale of EMP by Actis to Network International. Actis is the private equity firm which invests exclusively in Africa, Asia and Latin America and is a leading investor in growth markets with $7bn of funds under management. Network International is a leading provider of payment solutions in the Middle East, and is backed by Emirates NBD, and private equity houses, General Atlantic and Warburg Pincus.

Slaughter and May is advising the UK Green Investment Bank (GIB) on its privatisation. The transaction will involve both the sale of existing shares owned by the Government and also the commitment of additional capital for GIB by new investors.

Clifford Chance has advised Actis, a leading growth market investor on its sale of Emerging Markets Payments (EMP), the leading Africa and Middle East payments business, to Network International.

The shareholders in Zengun, including the founders Ulf Jonsson and Tobias Örnevik, divest a majority stake of the shares in Zengun to Segulah. The current owners will keep a substantial interest and continue their operative engagements within the company.

Zengun is one of Sweden’s fastest growing construction companies and operates within the premium sector with focus on commercial real property projects in the Stockholm region.

Osborne Clarke has advised Adorial Limited, a privately held drug discovery company, on its acquisition by C4X Discovery Holdings plc in exchange for shares in C4X. The acquisition will augment C4X's drug discovery engine with the purchase of key genetic technology, Taxonomy3®.

DLA Piper advised Solteq Plc (Nasdaq: STQ1V) on the divestment of MainIoT Software Ltd, its fully owned subsidiary which provides maintenance and service management solutions for mainly manufacturing, restructuring, energy and infrastructure sectors. The purchaser is IFS Group, a globally operating company developing and delivering business software for enterprise resource planning, enterprise asset management and enterprise service management.

Osborne Clarke has advised PizzaExpress Limited on its acquisition of leading gourmet pizza delivery company, Firezza Holdings Limited.

The acquisition means that PizzaExpress Limited gains the entire share capital of Firezza Holdings Limited, as well as its 17 sites across London and the South of England.

The Osborne Clarke team that advised on the transaction was led by Partner Paul Cooper, who was assisted by Partner Erika Jupe and Associate Directors Matthew Bodfield and Michael O'Haire.

St. Petersburg —  Dentons has advised Fortum OJSC, one of Russia’s leading energy companies, in connection with the sale of a 100% interest in its subsidiary Tobolsk CHP to SIBUR Holding — one of Russia’s largest gas-refining and petrochemical enterprises. Tobolsk CHP owns and operates a cogeneration power plant in Tobolsk, Tyumen Region.