Bird & Bird Finnish Corporate team advised Silmaasema (Finland’s leading provider of eye care services and second largest optician chain) in a recent transaction where Finnish private equity firm Intera Partners acquired the majority of shares in Silmaasema.
Macfarlanes has advised private equity firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson (VSS) and management on the sale of British media company CSC Media Group to Sony Pictures Television.
CSC Media Group is one of the UK’s largest independent cable/satellite TV channel groups with a portfolio of 16 channels across kids, music and movies and entertainment genres.
Taylor Wessing has advised the shareholders of Markco Media Limited on the sale of the business to Monitise plc.
Global mobile banking, payments and commerce technology business Monitise, has announced its acquisition of Markco Media Limited – which includes the businesses of voucher and coupon site MyVoucherCodes.co.uk and Last Second Tickets – in a deal worth up to £55m.
DLA Piper has advised the shareholders of GVA Grimley Holdings (GVA) one of the UK's largest commercial property consultants, on its sale to Bilfinger SE, an international engineering and services group based in Germany.
GVA is the UK's largest independent commercial property consultant. Headquartered in London and with 12 offices and 700 fee earners across the UK, GVA offers the country's largest and most diverse multidisciplinary property consultancy outside of the capital.
Law firm Eversheds has advised Maplin and its management team in relation to its sale to Rutland Partners for £85m.
Maplin is the UK's biggest specialist consumer electronics retailer, with high street and out-of-town stores, a mail order catalogue and an online presence.
The Eversheds team was led by partner Alasdair Outhwaite assisted by Associate Elizabeth Tindall and trainee Laura Evans.
Alasdair commented:
Ashurst has advised Cegedim in connection with the binding offer made by IMS Health Inc. for the acquisition of the majority of its CRM and strategic data division business for an amount of €385 million. This includes the transfer of all of the CRM division and strategic data activity, with the exception of the departments providing sales data in the EU such as GERS France and Pharmastock.
Global law firm Dentons has advised the shareholder of Homestay Solutions GmbH on the sale of its business to Homestay Technologies Limited. Homestay Solutions GmbH is an internet start-up which over the last years achieved considerable growth with its internet platform, homestaybooking.com. Since 2008 homestaybooking.com has provided online booking for accommodation with host families worldwide. Host families are mainly booked for young people living abroad for language classes, internships or other education purposes.
Baker & McKenzie advised internationally operating Swiss technology group Feintool AG on the sale of its subsidiary IMA Automation Amberg GmbH to the automotive supplier Preh GmbH, which is owned by the Chinese Joyson Group. The transaction is subject to the approval of antitrust authorities.
La Banque Postale has acquired a shareholding of 66% in SOFIAP from Crédit Immobilier de France (which sold its 51% majority shareholding) and SNCF (which sold 15%). It therefore succeeds Crédit Immobilier de France as partner to the SNCF (which retains a 34% shareholding) in SOFIAP.
King & Wood Mallesons advised the shareholders of Hong-Kong company Aldiko on its sale to Feedbooks. Founded in 2009, Aldiko develops an Android eBook reader application with more than 20 million users world-wide.
Established in 2007, the French start-up Feedbooks is an eBook retailer which provides more than 800,000 publications to a world-wide audience.