Osborne Clarke has advised the shareholders of creative content agency, Gravity Road, on its innovative alignment with technology holding company, You & Mr Jones, that included You & Mr Jones acquiring a 51% equity stake in the company.

The deal will see Gravity Road launch in the US and become a content and innovation hub for You & Mr Jones, further enhancing the ‘brandtech’ group’s capabilities worldwide.

Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) has advised OMV on the sale of two wholly-owned subsidiaries comprising its upstream exploration and production business in Pakistan (“OMV Pakistan”) to Dragon Prime Hong Kong Ltd., Hong Kong, for an agreed consideration of €157m (subject to adjustments). The transaction is subject to certain conditions and relevant regulatory approvals.

Birmingham-headquartered Springboard Corporate Finance has been acquired by Begbies Traynor.

A team of corporate lawyers at national law firm Weightmans has advised Midlands advisory practice Springboard Corporate Finance on joining Begbies Traynor in a deal worth up to £4.5 million.

The firm, which has offices in Birmingham, Nottingham and London, specialises in mid-market corporate finance, acting across a broad range of buy and sell side private company transactions.

Baker McKenzie with Giorgio Telarico assisted SmartOil2 in the sale of Smart Oil ltd, a Ghanaian company operating in the field of cultivation, production and selling of biofuels.

SmartOil Ltd executed a concession agreement with Ghanaian authorities for a period of 50 years for about 4500 ha.

Smart Oil Ltd has been acquired by JOil an integrated value chain player based in Singapore operating in the field of developing biomaterials projects.

Travers Smith LLP has advised Basalt Infrastructure Partners LP on its disposal of its interest in Alkane Energy to Infinis Energy Management Limited, the leading generator of landfill gas in the UK.  Infinis Energy Management Limited is owned by 3i Infrastructure plc.

Dechert LLP is advising the selling shareholders on the proposed sale of STAT-Dx, a privately owned Spanish molecular diagnostics company, to QIAGEN N.V, a leading provider of sample and assay technologies for molecular diagnostics listed on the New York Stock and Frankfurt Prime Standard exchanges, for approximately US$191 million (including milestones). The transaction is expected to close during the second quarter of 2018, subject to the successful completion of defined development activities by STAT-Dx.

Hogan Lovells has represented Welling Holding Limited ("Welling") (HKSE: 382) in its privatisation by Midea International Corporation Company Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Midea Group Co., Ltd. ("Midea Group") (000333.SZ), by way of a scheme of arrangement under section 673 of the Hong Kong Companies Ordinance. This is the third successful privatisation in Hong Kong by way of a scheme of arrangement under the Hong Kong Companies Ordinance since it came into force in 2014.

The media company STRÖER acquires DV-COM, a well-known provider of call centers

Global law firm Dentons has advised the shareholders of DV-COM GmbH on the sale of the company to STRÖER Dialog Group GmbH. DV-COM has been a leading provider of high-quality customer-care services for more than 40 years. Its service portfolio includes back office outsourcing, call center services, digital media as well as business process outsourcing. The company employs approximately 1,500 people across seven locations in Germany and Palma de Mallorca.

Slaughter and May advised Impello Limited, the parent entity of the First Utility group, on its sale to The Shell Petroleum Company Limited.  The First Utility group is a leading independent UK household energy and broadband providers, and is one of the largest rivals to the “big six” energy suppliers.

The sale completed on 28 February 2018 and marks Shell’s entry into the market for direct sales of electricity and gas to UK households.

Contacts

BEIJING, March 2, 2018: Morgan Lewis represented the special committee of the board of directors of ATA Inc., a leading provider of advanced testing technologies and testing-related services in China, in the sale of its wholly owned subsidiary ATA Online (Beijing) Education Technology Co., or ATA Online, to a group of investors that are led by ATA Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Kevin Xiaofeng Ma and include entities affiliated with funds managed by CDH Investments, a major Chinese alternative asset management firm based in Beijing, as well as companies controlled by certain management