Hengeler Mueller advises Siemens on Sale of Audiology Solutions business Siemens sells its Audiology Solutions business to the Swedish investor EQT and the German entrepreneurial family Strungmann as co-investor for €2.15bn plus an earn-out component. Due to the very attractive offer made by the two investors, Siemens has decided not to further pursue preparations for the public listing it announced in May.
Specialist IT recruitment business Lorien, based in Leeds, has been acquired by Impellam to create the second largest staffing company in the UK by turnover. The initial consideration is £22.3m in cash and £7.5m in new ordinary shares at a price of 460p. Impellam will assume Lorien's net debt of £14m and pay an additional deferred consideration of up to £6m in January 2015 and up to £13.9m in January 2016, dependent on the EBITDA performance of Lorien during these two earn-out periods.
Hogan Lovells has advised client Olson on its acquisition by ICF International (“ICF”), a leading provider of consulting services and technology solutions to government and commercial clients.
Slaughter and May is advising Spirit Pub Company Plc, one of the UK’s leading pub companies, on a recommended offer by Greene King Plc. Under the terms of the offer, Spirit shareholders will receive 0.1322 new Greene King share for every Spirit share they own, and 8p in cash payable as a dividend by Spirit. The offer values Spirit at £773.4 million, a premium of 52.2% to Spirit’s undisturbed share price.
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP has advised Definiens, a leading Germany-based firm specializing in immunotherapy, in its acquisition by MedImmune, the global biologics research and development arm of AstraZeneca.
Kirkland & Ellis LLP represented bswift, a provider of a technology platform that offers a retail shopping experience for health insurance exchanges and employers nationwide, in its sale announced today to Aetna (NYSE: AET) for approximately $400 million. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including Hart-Scott-Rodino antitrust regulatory approval. The acquisition is expected to close before the end of the year.
The Kirkland team includes corporate partners Michael Paley and William Benitez, and tax partner Rachel Cantor.
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer has advised United Biscuits and its principal shareholders, Blackstone and PAI Partners, on the sale of United Biscuits to Yildiz Holding.
Signing of the transaction was announced yesterday.
United Biscuits is a leading manufacturer and marketer of biscuits in the UK and second largest in the Netherlands, France, Belgium and Ireland. UB owns and operates 16 manufacturing facilities of which seven are in the UK.
Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings (LabCorp) and Covance Inc. have entered into a definitive agreement under which LabCorp will acquire Covance for cash and LabCorp shares currently valued at $105.12 per Covance share, or an equity value of approximately $6.1 billion. Cravath represented Covance in this transaction. The combination will create the world’s leading healthcare diagnostics company. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of 2015 and is subject to Covance shareholder approval, regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.
Publicis Groupe and Sapient have announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Publicis Groupe will acquire Sapient in an all-cash transaction for $25.00 per share, or approximately $3.7 billion. Cravath represented Sapient in this transaction, which is expected to close in the first quarter of 2015, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals.
Gide has advised Actimos, publisher of Wipolo, and its shareholders on its sale to the Accor group, leading hotel group worldwide. Wipolo is a free app and web service that enables users to organise their travels, share itineraries and discover new destinations thanks to their friends.
Legal counsel to Wipolo:
Gide: Karen Noël (partner) and Pauline Schaeffer (associate)